The Fanfiction Rotation
by radredknuxfan
Summary: This is just a series of one-shots created based on your requests. Just request a genre and include a short summary, and I will do my best on it. Details are inside. Please R&R! Currently rated T, but rating may vary based on story content. NO LONGER ACCEPTING REQUESTS
1. Introduction

I think it's about a good time to give myself a bit of challenge, which is why I have decided to leave what I write in your hands. This is what I like to call the "Fanfiction Rotation". This is essentially just a chance for me to branch out and try out different forms of fanfiction (i.e. AU, slash, etc.). And I will be trying every one, and which ones I actually do will be up to you. And here's how we're going to do it.

In the reviews, give me a genre of fanfiction, as well as a short summary of what you want me to go by in terms of a story. You are limited to up to 3-4 lines of text to describe it, so please keep it short. Suggestions are first come, first serve, so don't be discouraged if you get beaten to the punch by someone else, as yours will be used in subsequent chapters. Once I read the suggestion, I will create a one-shot using both parts of the suggestion (these will all be based on Regular Show, just so you guys know). These will be going on until I feel like stopping, which I will let you know in advance if that ever happens. Anyway, I think I've covered all of the details, so before I go, I want to cover some ground rules.

*Please do not request anything sexually explicit, as I am not really all that comfortable doing it. This essentially means that any yaoi fics will have to be relatively clean, keyword being relatively.

*The rating for this story will vary, which I will be warning people of in advance.

*For any romance or slash fics, please feel free to also include a pairing that you want me to try out, but please keep it realistic. For example, any pairing that has been seen in other fics in the Regular Show section I am willing to do.

*Please allow at least 5 other people to give their suggestions before giving another one.

* Feel free to also leave your reviews as well.

So, I believe that is probably it, but if I can think of any more rules or information, I'll update this page. Anyway, though, keep your suggestions coming, and I'll see you guys next time!

RK

P.S. This is only a side project. "The Month from 'H'" is still going to be going on while I do this.

P.P.S. New chapters will also be announced on my Facebook as well. The link is on my profile.


	2. Story 1

Type: Slash (BensonXPops)

Genre: Humor/Friendship

Requested By: futureauthor13

Also, special thanks to Christ lover 357 for the plot suggestion.

Summary: The park family takes a vacation to Disney World, but Benson has come down with a case of jet lag, which has left him moody and irritable. It's up to Pops to cheer him up and get him to loosen up and enjoy himself.

One more note before I begin. I'm going to let the last four requests that are currently up go and do them, but from now on, I will not be accepting requests that don't include both the style of fanfiction you want me to do, as well as the genre you want in the review (also, include a pairing if you wish for romance and/or slash fics). While I do appreciate that you guys want to contribute, I wanted to challenge myself when thinking of this, which means that I want to actually throw together a plot myself. Anyway, reviews themselves are optional, but suggested. Thanks for listening, everyone.

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><p>It was a warm summer's day, as a van pulled into the parking lot of the happiest place on Earth, Disney World. The van in question contained seven people who were anxiously awaiting their chance to experience what the park had to offer, except for the gumball machine named Benson, who was suffering from some jet lag thanks to the lack of time spent going from the airport to the hotel, and finally to the park. Everyone else, however, was bouncing in their seats in anticipation, except for Skips, whose stoic personality only let him crack a smile on his face. Even Muscle Man, who normally wouldn't be acting anywhere near this way, was squealing under his breath in joy.<p>

Finally, the van came to a stop and everyone hurried out of the car as quickly as they could, leading to many instances of crashing into each other. Rigby the raccoon was almost squashed between the two bodies of Mordecai the blue jay (his best friend) and Skips, whose bulk was the cause of the problem. A few minutes passed as the group untangled themselves, but finally they managed to get out of the van and bunch into a group, while Benson took his usual spot in front of the group, clipboard in hand.

"Alright, you guys, first we got to lay down some ground rules." said Benson, to the sound of groans and an "Aw, what?" from Rigby, which was immediately silenced with a glare from Benson. "First off, all of us are going to split into two groups of two, and one group of three. You can decide amongst yourselves who you are teaming with."

There were constant sounds of shuffling as the group moved around to pair up with their partners. When the dust settled, Mordecai and Rigby were in one group, while Skips, Muscle Man, and High-Five Ghost were in another group, which left Pops to pair up with Benson, to his "everlasting joy". Admittedly, while Benson did enjoy Pops' company, he wasn't quite feeling up to it at the moment, thanks to the jet lag giving him headaches. But he felt that it was in his best interest to keep Pops in a good mood, so he decided it was worth the pain in his head to spend time with the lolliman.

"Alright, two more things before we head inside. Everyone must stay together at all times. No exceptions!" said Benson, with a look at Mordecai and Rigby to seemingly make a point about them. "Also, each group is being given two hundred dollars spending money" Mordecai and Rigby were the first to reach out their hands before the money, but Benson pulled his hand away before they could grab the cash, saying "It's for food and emergencies only through the entire week. I don't want to hear anything about any of you buying anything stupid with the money, because not only will you be in trouble with me, you're going to be in it with Mr. Maellard as well, cause it's his money that got us here."

"Lastly, we will be meeting back at the front gates tonight at 6:00 sharp for dinner, so don't be late!" continued Benson. Now finally finished, Benson waved off the group and they rushed off towards the park, leaving Pops standing there on his own, giggling like he always does. Benson sighed and beckoned towards Pops, saying "Come on, Pops. Let's head inside."

"Of course" said Pops, as he began following the gumball machine into the park.

* * *

><p>Time passed as Benson and Pops walked through the park, checking out ride after ride, eating whatever they could, and enjoying the sights. But while Benson's jet lag has finally cleared up, he was somehow still quite unhappy, which Pops was quite aware of, but has never managed to bring it up until now, considering he was constantly distracted by the park. But now that they were resting for the moment, Pops' attention finally turned to Benson.<p>

"Benson, my good man, how is it that you still have yet to be enjoying yourself, even after this fine day of merriment?" asked Pops, who was genuinely curious.

Benson once again sighed, and said "It's just the jet lag has been bothering me all day. It has cleared up for the most part, but there have still been some lingering headaches, and I can't stand it anymore."

"Oh dear," said Pops. "That's just not good at all." The lolliman thought for a minute, before an idea popped into his head, and he exclaimed "I know just what will fix you up! Come with me"

Benson, however, wasn't so keen on walking at the moment, thanks to his sore feet, and said "Can't we rest for a little while? My feet are killing me"

"Oh come now, Benson. A few more feet aren't going to do you any harm" said Pops, as he checked the map of the park. "There's a store right near here that sells medical remedies. It's right up your alley!"

"Oh, alright." said Benson.

Pops clapped his hands giddily and said "Yay, good show!"

Benson and Pops walked over to the store and headed in, coming out a few minutes later with a bottle of aspirin in Benson's pocket, two pills already having been taken. Benson was noticeably happier at this turn of events, but he still wasn't quite in the mood yet to fully be able to loosen up and enjoy himself. Pops' face fell as he noticed the state that Benson was in, and racked his brain to come up with another idea to cheer up Benson. Then it hit him. Giddy with anticipation, Pops grabbed Benson's hand, dragging the gumball machine with him. Over Benson's protests at being dragged off, Pops said "I have just the thing to cheer you up, Benson!"

It took Pops a while to find it, but he finally let Benson go as they reached the entrance of Big Thunder Mountain, presenting it to him with outstretched hands and a grin on his face. "Here it is, Benson. I believe that this will really be able to turn that frown upside down"

Benson paused, rubbing his wrist as he looked between Pops and the roller coaster, which steadily grew larger in his eyes each time he looked at it, which led to a slight shiver escaping him before he knew it. Thankfully, Pops didn't notice. "Alright, I don't see the harm in giving it a shot." said Benson.

"Good show! Jolly good show!" said Pops, as he skipped merrily over to the line, Benson following right next to him. As they reached the back of the line, which luckily wasn't really that long, Benson tapped Pops on the shoulder, and at the lolliman's questioning look, said "And next time, just tell me when you want to take me somewhere, alright?"

Pops nodded and said "Of course, my good man. How silly of me to do that."

As the line grew steadily shorter, Benson's nerves grew steadily larger, to the point where he was nearly a nervous wreck as they reached the front. It turns out that this was actually his first rollercoaster ride. His family never actually went on any vacations, and he never found time to go to a park himself, so he never got the chance to ride one, and Benson was utterly intimidated at the size of this coaster. He was about to turn around and head back, but thoughts of disappointing Pops entered his head. He didn't want to be the one to ruin Pops' day, so he steeled his resolve and hopped in the seat next to him.

Soon enough, the car filled up and was on its way. Trying his best not to hyperventilate, Benson slowly breathed in and out to calm himself down. Pops, meanwhile, was oblivious, staring straight ahead at the top of the hill that they were currently climbing, a wide smile on his face. Benson took a look over at his seat partner and noticed the look he had on. He could only just smile slightly and shake his head in amusement. The car finally reached the top of the hill, and the final seconds before the drop felt almost like an eternity to Benson. The car suddenly shot forward with a burst of speed as Benson and Pops' heads blew back.

Pops raised his arms up in the air like most people usually do on a rollercoaster, laughing his butt off. For Benson, though, it took a couple of minutes, but a smile soon grew on Benson's face, and a feeling of euphoria exploded out of his heart. The gumball machine raised his arms up giddily and let out a loud "Wooooo!" before laughing along with Pops. As for the lolliman, a feeling of joy grew in him as he listened to Benson's excited yells. _My mission is now complete, _thought Pops to himself, before joining Benson in the excitement as the ride neared the finish.

As Benson and Pops walked off from the ride, hundreds of thoughts were shooting through the gumball machine's mind as he wondered to himself what he has been missing all these years by being so negative all the time. Finally, he turned to Pops and said "Wow, Pops, I'm really glad that you brought me on this ride. That really did the trick. I feel so much better."

"That's very good to hear, Benson. I'm so happy that you're finally in a good mood." said Pops.

"Yeah, I know, I feel like I've been missing so much today. Thanks so much." said Benson.

"Oh, it's no problem at all, my good man." Pops said as he pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. "It's almost five, Benson. Shouldn't we probably be getting back to the front gate to meet up with the others?"

"Oh yeah, we should get going." said Benson, as he began heading towards the exit to the park, but with a new spring in his step.

* * *

><p>Benson and Pops arrived at the gate to find the rest of the group standing there, exhausted after a long day of fun but looking forward to dinner. After pulling out his clipboard (even his good mood won't prevent him from doing his job), he performed a check on each of the groups, counting their remaining money and jotting it down. Everyone checked out fine (even Mordecai and Rigby), and they headed off to dinner.<p>

Dinner was a joyous affair. The mood was already quite positive, but Benson's positive mood still had not trailed off, which only Mordecai and Rigby felt was odd, as they only really knew of him as a somewhat of a jerk. The two silently agreed, though, that it was in their best interest not to be the ones to piss Benson off, so they let it go and enjoyed their dinner.

* * *

><p><strong>And there we go. Before I go, though, I want to mention one thing. I can't promise that this will be as good as "The Month from 'H'" (that's where the whole challenge thing comes from), so don't expect any real wizardry to come out of this. Still, as I have said before, I'm going to do my best, so you guys will still be able to enjoy it just as much.<strong>

**Anyway, keep those requests coming, please rate & review, and I will see you guys next time with the next story!**

**RK **


	3. Story 2

Genre: Hurt/Comfort & Angst

Requested by: FromTheUK

Summary: It's a dystopian future, and a 30-year old Mordecai and Rigby are now on the streets after the park is closed due to financial problems. They do their best to survive while regretting the choices they have made in life.

WARNING: Rated T for character death, some swearing, and some slight instances of Morby

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><p>It was a cold and dreary night. The town lay quiet as everyone was inside their homes, due to the evening curfew. However, there were two people who have failed to comply with said curfew, mainly because they had nowhere to live. A bluejay named Mordecai and a raccoon named Rigby were within the confines of an incredibly dingy alley, hastily warming their hands in front of a flaming barrel as the temperature continued to drop. The park that they used to work at for the last 7 years no longer existed, as financial issues forced Mr. Maellard to shut it down, forcing Mordecai and Rigby on to the streets.<p>

Unfortunately, Maellard's cold heart prevented him from giving an ounce of aid to the two workers, so their time, when not spent surviving the cold nights, was used scrounging for food in trash bins and other unsanitary means.

Three months have passed since their only home shut down, and those three months have not been kind to them. Both Mordecai and Rigby wore layers of the dirty laundry that Rigby formerly slept under, and they also both lost a ton of weight, to the point that their ribs were showing clear as day against their skin. The bottom line was that they were extremely lucky to have still survived these three months.

Time passed as the two continued to warm themselves, until Mordecai turned towards Rigby and said "Hey, Rigby?" His voice came out dry and crackly, thanks to the fact that the water that was pumped into their section of the city was completely unfit to drink, while the rich section of the town got water of a much better quality.

"Yeah, dude?" said Rigby, his voice sounding the same.

"Was there anything you've ever regretted in your life?" said Mordecai.

Rigby paused as he racked his brain trying to think of something. "Now that I think about it, I regret acting like a spoiled child all the time " said Rigby. "You were telling me all the time to stop acting like that, and I never listened once."

Mordecai chuckled a bit as he remembered all of the times when Rigby pouted to get what he wanted. He apologized, though, after the insulted look from Rigby, who heard the laugh.

"Alright, so is there anything you regret?" asked Rigby.

"Never working up the courage to ask Margaret out." said Mordecai immediately. Rigby rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "Here we go again."

"Every time over the past seven years that I ran into her, whether at the coffee shop or anywhere else, I always, underline, always freeze up. I don't know what's with me! " said Mordecai. He was about to continue, when he was interrupted by a hug from Rigby. "Dude, what are you doing?"

"I'm comforting you. Can't a guy comfort another guy who's lost everything, and who just happens to be my best friend?" asked Rigby.

Mordecai couldn't help but smile after hearing that. "Thanks, dude. But let's leave the weird stuff for another time, alright?"

Rigby, although disappointed, said okay, and let go of the blue jay. Leaning back on his hands, Rigby began to stare at the stars. "You wanna know what I regret most of all?"

"What's that, dude?" asked Mordecai.

"Slacking off all the time." said Rigby.

Mordecai raised his eyebrows and said "That's funny, because that's exactly how I feel about it as well. If we didn't slack off so much, we might not be stuck in this alleyway. I mean, I'm pretty sure we're not going to end up in the rich district, but we might have at least earned an actual house."

Rigby could only sigh and nod in assent.

As the night closed out, Mordecai and Rigby did their best to curl up to stay warm overnight. Eventually, the only option left was to cuddle, which the two did very reluctantly. Soon enough, both of them were finally able to get to sleep. The only disturbance that was still spreading through the night was a small whimper from Rigby, as the nightmares hit.

* * *

><p>The next day, for the most part, was just as action-packed as the last one, which is to say not at all. The only thing of real importance to actually happen was that Mordecai managed to sniff out a half-eaten bag of fast food from a dumpster, which at least in their terms means an entire meal. The entire time that this was going on, though, Rigby had a worried look on his face, which Mordecai was somehow completely oblivious to.<p>

Night fell once again, with the bluejay and raccoon once again in front of the burning barrel. This time, Mother Nature apparently decided to give those two a break and let up on the freezing cold temperatures, so that they didn't need as much protection.

While Mordecai was busy chowing down on a scrap of food he found, Rigby had his head in his hands, looking like he was constantly on the verge of tears. This time, it ended up catching Mordecai's attention.

"You okay, dude?" asked Mordecai, as he tossed the chicken bone away. Placing a hand on the coon's shoulder, he said "You know, you can talk to me about what's going through your mind. Bros help other bros, right?"

Rigby paused and looked up at Mordecai, revealing tear-stained and bloodshot eyes from the bout of crying he just went through. "I just can't take it anymore!"

"What do you mean?" asked Mordecai.

"I mean, I can't go on living like this! The rich people are living in the lap of luxury, while people like us are lucky to at least get a scrap of food to eat. And those bastards don't even do anything to help!" said Rigby.

"Woah, settle down, dude." said Mordecai nervously, attempting to calm Rigby down out of his crazed rant. Unfortunately, it failed miserably, as Rigby began rummaging around through the alley, until he ended up finding a large chunk of broken glass, with the edges about as sharp as you can get.

Mordecai's heart raced as he noticed the weapon that was now in the crazed raccoon's grasp. "Dude, put that glass down. You don't want to do what I think you're planning to do."

"Shut up!" said Rigby. "This shard of glass is going to be my savior. It will send me to another world, where…"

Rigby couldn't finish what he was saying, though, as Mordecai tackled him down to the ground, attempting to wrest the glass shard from the raccoon's iron grip. A struggle ensued, as Rigby began pulling the shard towards his exposed neck, while Mordecai was trying his best to pry it away from him. While Mordecai was known as being stronger than Rigby, the currently crazed state that the coon was in gave him strength that he never knew he had, to the point where he was matching the force that Mordecai was exerting.

Minutes passed as the struggle continued, until Rigby's grip finally gave out, letting go of the shard, and cutting his hand open. Rigby grabbed his hand with his other one, trying to staunch the bleeding as best he could, apologized to Mordecai for putting him through this. However, there was no answer back in return.

Rigby suddenly heard a small gurgling sound and turned towards Mordecai, only to see the bird down on the ground, the glass shard embedded in his neck. Rigby could only watch in shock as the blood pooled around Mordecai's body, staining his feathers purple, and the light left his eyes to never return.

Suddenly, something clicked in his mind, and Rigby called out. "Mordecai!" he yelled as he rushed over and grabbed Mordecai's head in his hands. Sobbing, he sat down and began rocking back and forth while continuing to cradle the blue jay's head. "I'm sorry, Mordecai. I'm so sorry." said Rigby through choked sobs. And that was all he could say, as he could think of nothing else to say about his part in Mordecai's death. He continued to rock back and forth, as he sobbed till he could sob no more.

* * *

><p>Two days have passed since Rigby accidentally killed his best friend, and those two days were the worst days of his still young life. He finally managed to figure out how it happened, as much as it pains him to remember. It turns out it was sheer bad luck that did Mordecai in, as the momentum of the glass shard coming out of Rigby's hand was fast enough to jam right into Mordecai's neck, who wasn't prepared for Rigby to let go that quickly.<p>

There have been times when Rigby has considered just prying the shard out of Mordecai's neck and ending it all (his body was still in the alleyway, and was beginning to stink up the place, but Rigby just couldn't let him go), but his conscience got the better of him each time. He felt that Mordecai was probably watching him from above, and he wouldn't want his best friend committing suicide just so they could be together. Rigby needed to live his life to the fullest, which he did. As much as it pained him to do it, he finally convinced himself it was for the best, and buried Mordecai's body within the boundaries of the former park.

Now satisfied he left the remainder of his past life behind, Rigby set off, hoping he could improve his standing in the city, and finally get that better life he deserved.

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><p><strong>And that's it for this one. I hope you all enjoyed it, as much as I did writing it (although I admit it was a bit of a tough one to do, as it was such a change in tone from The Month from H). Anyway, keep those requests coming in, and I'll see you guys next time for the third installment of the Fanfiction Rotation!<strong>

**RK**


	4. Story 3

Genre: Adventure/Humor

Requested By: Christ lover 357

Summary: Mordecai, Rigby and the rest of the park family are taking a trip to Washington, DC. Things go smoothly until they end up causing a national emergency.

Disclaimer: Anything related to Regular Show is owned by J.G. Quintel and Cartoon Network.

WARNING: There will be some slight Morby in this story. Very miniscule, really.

* * *

><p>It was springtime, and the Ronald Reagan National Airport was at its busiest. The entire terminal was almost packed to the brim as people stood in lines waiting for one thing or another. Within the massive mob of people stood Mordecai, Rigby, Benson, Pops, Skips, Muscle Man, and High-Five Ghost, who were anxiously awaiting the return of their baggage. Unfortunately, not only have they been waiting there for the last fifteen minutes, they were stuck behind another group of people from the plane they flew in on, who were also waiting as the conveyor belt continued to spin around.<p>

Benson couldn't take it anymore. Adding to his currently surly mood was the fact that he wasn't a big fan of crowds. Thank god he wasn't claustrophobic, otherwise he would have been out of there in a second, and would have most likely have said goodbye to his luggage, considering most of the group wasn't exactly all that reliable, except for Skips.

Finally, the crowd thinned out and the group was able to finally see the luggage belt. No one spoke to each other, as they were all incredibly focused on the task of finding their bags. Finally, their bags soon popped out, one after the other, and they all hurriedly grabbed them and headed outside.

* * *

><p>Things outside weren't much better. Taxis lined the sidewalk as far as the eye could see, and people were lined up beside them, trying to stuff their huge bags into the trunks. Benson stood in front of the doorway, searching for their vehicle, while the rest of the group stood waiting.<p>

Finally, Benson spotted their vehicle and beckoned towards the group. "Come on guys, our ride's waiting." he said to them.

It was extremely likely that the seven of them would never fit into a taxi with all of their bags, so Benson took the liberty of hiring a coach bus that would be taking them around the city. It was a little on the expensive side, but it was pretty much the only choice they had to fit all of them.

The bus ride to the hotel was mostly uneventful. Mordecai and Rigby were engaged in a staring contest. Pops was staring out the window at a bird that was somehow keeping up with the bus, and Muscle Man and Fives were chatting away with each other, Muscle Man inserting his famous "My Mom" jokes any chance he could get.

Meanwhile, Benson and Skips were sitting at the front of the bus. Benson was still in one of his moods, the fact not lost on Skips. "Something wrong, Benson?"asked Skips.

"What? Oh, nothing." said Benson. "The crowd at the airport was just getting to me. I should be fine once we get to the hotel."

"OK then, just let me know if you need anything, alright?" asked Skips.

"Sure, Skips." said Benson.

* * *

><p>The hotel soon came into view, as the group anxiously awaited the chance to get off the bus and check it out. From the outside, the hotel looked relatively fancy, but as each of them knew, you can't really tell how fancy it is until you make it inside.<p>

Before they could make it inside, though, Benson held them up once they left the confines of the bus. "Alright you guys, I've got some ground rules to lay out before we go in." said Benson, to the sound of audible groans from Mordecai, Rigby and Muscle Man. Ignoring the outburst, Benson continued on. "One. No horsing around in the hotel except for your rooms and the pool, within reason. And speaking of the pool, number two is that no one can go to the pool without either myself or Skips present."

"Aw, what?" said Rigby. "Why do we have to do that?"

"Because I can't trust anyone to behave themselves accordingly without supervision, especially you two." said Benson, punctuating it with a look at both Rigby and Mordecai. "Anyway, rule number three is bedtime is at 10:00 every night. We have a schedule to keep with all of these tours and such, and I'm not going to have any screw ups."

Continuing to ignore the grumbles coming from the group, Benson grabbed his bag and headed towards the front doors, everyone else close behind.

The inside of the hotel actually did live up to the expectations of the outside. While it wasn't five-star quality, the hotel was admittedly pretty decent looking. While Benson was busy checking in at the front desk, Mordecai and Rigby were busy looking around the hotel in awe at its splendor.

"Whoa, this is amazing, dude." said Mordecai, beak hanging open.

"I know, this is so awesome!" said Rigby, now bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.

Benson soon returned carrying four sets of keys and handed three of them to Mordecai, Muscle Man and Skips. Benson cleared his throat and pulled out his clipboard, which at the moment carried a list of room numbers and occupants divided almost evenly among the group. "Alright, here's how the rooms are going to work. All of the rooms are on the third floor, and you're each going to be divided into groups of two, except for Skips, who is the odd man out and gets his own room."

"Mordecai and Rigby are getting room 315. Muscle Man and High Five Ghost get room 316. Skips has room 317. And Pops and I are left with room 318. Everyone got that?" said Benson.

Mordecai raised his hand. "Um, is there more than one bed in each room?"

"Unfortunately, we could only get two rooms with two beds, so we had to decide which pair had to sleep in one bed. And you two came up. It was a random drawing, so don't blame me if you don't like it." said Benson.

Mordecai and Rigby's jaws both fell open in shock at this revelation. They looked like they were about to argue their case, but Benson stopped them. "I don't want to hear it, guys. I know it's awkward, but you two are just going to have to live with it for the week." Benson then walked off towards the elevators as if to emphasize his point. Mordo and Rigs both let out groans of disgust before they followed their boss to the elevators, along with the rest of the group.

* * *

><p>The scene in Mordecai &amp; Rigby's hotel room was tense, as the blue jay and raccoon stood on either side of the bed, which as of yet has not been touched, even after they finished their unpacking. Neither of them wanted to be the first to take the plunge and lay down on the bed. Five more minutes passed as the two just stood there, before Mordecai finally spoke up.<p>

"Dude, we'd better just get this over with while we're still young." he said.

"Fine, but I'm not sleeping on the floor." said Rigby.

"Well, neither will I." said Mordecai. Reaching an impasse in their argument, Mordecai sighed and slowly laid on the bed. Rigby, however, didn't move a muscle.

"Come on, Rigby. I'm not going anywhere until you lay down with me. Besides, I have the only room key, so you're not going anywhere either." said Mordecai.

"I don't wanna." whined Rigby.

"Come on, dude, don't be such a chicken. What's wrong with experimenting a bit, even if it is forced?" asked Mordecai.

"Ugh, fine." said Rigby. Steeling his nerve, Rigby climbed up onto the bed and laid down next to Mordecai. Silence reigned for the next few minutes as the reality of the moment sunk in for both of them. Soon enough, neither could take it anymore and they both bolted out of the bed.

"Alright, let's make sure we have one thing straight. Both of us have our own side of the bed that we have to stay on at all times. You got that?" asked Mordecai.

"Yeah, sure." said Rigby. "Come on, let's go hit the pool."

"Aw, yeah-yuh!" said Mordecai, now clearly excited at the prospect of pool time. Both of them headed out the door and locked it behind them before heading towards Skips' room.

* * *

><p>It was the next morning, and Mordecai was the first to wake up. He opened his eyes to see Rigby still fast asleep and facing towards him. It took a few moments for Mordecai to completely wake up, when he suddenly realized how close Rigby's face was to his. He looked down and realized with a shock that his arms were currently wrapped around Rigby's tiny body and vice versa. With a yell, Mordecai unwrapped his hands from around Rigby and pushed him away, sending him off the bed and thudding to the floor.<p>

Rigby woke up with a start. After blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he suddenly figured out that he was on the floor, and stared up at Mordecai with a look that plainly said "What the H, dude?"

"We…we were hugging." Mordecai barely managed to sputter out.

Rigby's face widened in shock as he realized what happened. "Oh my God." he said.

Rigby looked like he was about to say something else, but Mordecai cut him off. "Listen dude, listen for a second. No one can know about what happened last night. If anyone asks, we were on completely separate sides of the bed. You understand?" he said.

"Yeah…yeah." said Rigby disinterestedly as he was still trying to wrap his brain around what happened.

"Let's go. We have to go meet the rest of the guys pretty soon, so we'd better get ready." said Mordecai. He then awkwardly made his way out of the room, a nervous look on his face.

* * *

><p>Thankfully, no one asked about their escapades that night, so that relieved a bit of pressure off of Mordecai and Rigby.<p>

The week, for the most part, went by pretty smoothly. The group took tours around the city and experienced almost all of the sights that Washington, DC had to offer. Eventually the last day came around, and one spot was left on their tour.

The coach bus pulled up to the Pentagon, and the group jumped off and headed towards the front doors, where they were met by their personal tour guide, who was with them at each stop on the tour. Unfortunately, the Pentagon itself doesn't offer tours (most likely due to the fact that a lot of secret stuff goes on there), but they did manage to convince one of the people working there to let them take a look around wherever they were allowed to, which admittedly wasn't much.

Time passed as the tour group weaved their way through the Pentagon, and soon enough they reached what the tour guide called the War Room, which was pretty high-tech, containing hundreds of screens littered with tons of words that practically none of them besides Skips (who as you know, knows everything) could understand even remotely. The guide was busy showing off one of the screens as Mordecai and Rigby stood apart from the rest of the group looking at another screen, which at the moment was actually showing the camera view of a drone that was in Afghanistan.

"Ugh, I'm so bored." said Mordecai.

"Yeah, I know. Who would've thought that something like the freaking Pentagon would be this dull?" said Rigby.

Suddenly, Mordecai noticed something special on the screen. "Dude, what's going on down there?" he said. On the screen was a group of Afghani people who seemed to be discussing something important. Each one of them was also packing assault rifles, so there was no doubt that something was going on.

"Ooh, let me see!" said Rigby, who was standing on the floor and couldn't see the screen. He climbed up on to the chair that was in front of the screen and leaned forward, his hands on the desk in front of him. Unfortunately, one of his hands ended up landing on a giant red button, which clearly read "Do Not Touch". A beep was heard coming from the camera as the drone received its instructions and a missile passed by the camera, heading straight for the people on the ground.

Mordecai, wondering what's going on now, looked down at Rigby, and noticed Rigby's hand on the button and his eyes suddenly widened in shock. "Dude, what did you do?" asked Mordecai, quietly so as to avoid being noticed by the rest of the group, as he realized that this needed to be kept quiet so they wouldn't get in trouble. It was a good thing that he was a great liar.

Rigby looked down in confusion, before noticing that his hand was still pressing the red button. Suddenly it registered in his mind what happened, and his eyes also widened. "Oh crap." he whispered. "I think I just launched a missile at those people."

Mordecai facepalmed as he realized what was going to happen. "Dude, we can't tell anyone what we did."

"Why not?" said Rigby.

"We could go to jail for this! I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a dank cell!" Mordecai quietly yelled.

"Alright, alright. Let's just join the rest of the group and pretend that this never happened." said Rigby.

Mordecai & Rigby did just that, rejoining the group as they headed back outside towards the bus, while sirens blared in the background.

* * *

><p>Their trip finally finished, the group returned home to the park, and went their separate ways towards their houses. Mordecai sighed and grabbed the TV remote, flopping on to the couch and flipping on the TV, which was on the news.<p>

Mordecai & Rigby sat and watched as the newsman ran through all of the stories of the day, when suddenly their faces flashed on the screen as the story turned towards their accidental missile launch from the other day. The newsman noted that the man who agreed to let them in was immediately fired from his job, and that anyone who has any information of the whereabouts of Mordecai and Rigby to call the number that was listed on the bottom of the screen.

"Oh crap!" said Mordecai.

"Change the channel, quick!" said Rigby, hurriedly trying to grab the remote to do it himself. Mordecai finally managed to change the channel, but not before…

"MORDECAI! RIGBY!"

"We're screwed." said Mordecai.

"Yeah." said Rigby.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's it for this story. I don't admittedly have much to say other than sorry for it being a little late, and I promise the two chapter per week thing will be starting this week. Anyway, as always keep those requests coming in, and I will see you next time for the next installment of the Fanfiction Rotation!<strong>

**RK**


	5. Story 4

Genre: Romance

Requested by: philinchio

Summary: Mordecai and Margaret finally go on a one-on-one date to Il Costoso. This story is set in "The Month from H" universe. Mainly MordecaixMargaret, but there are also hints of one-sided RigbyxEileen.

NOTE: This is meant to be a side story for Day 11 of "The Month from H". This story focuses on Mordecai & Margaret's date (as told in the summary), while The Month from H will be focusing on Rigby without Mordecai being with him. I hope I explained it right.

* * *

><p>It was a quiet night on the town. Most stores have already been closed for the night, except for one. The coffee shop was currently closing down at the moment, but there were still two people inside. Margaret &amp; Eileen were busy cleaning up the shop for the next day of business before heading out for the night.<p>

An awkward silence currently hung over the area, until Eileen decided to speak up.

"So, Margaret, what are your plans for this evening once we close up shop?" she asked.

"I actually have that date with Mordecai tonight." said Margaret. "I was just going to head home and put on something nice before I head on over to the park."

"Oh right, I almost forgot about that." said Eileen. "Well, I hope you two have a wonderful time at Il Costoso. I wish I could go."

"I'd love to bring you, Eileen, but unfortunately I only got reservations for two. Maybe next time we can hopefully get some more seats and you can bring Rigby along." said Margaret.

"Oh yeah, that would be amazing." said Eileen, her eyes sparkling as she daydreamed about finally getting a chance with Rigby.

Suddenly, Margaret's phone rang, playing the song that Mordecai sang for her that one time when he accidentally butt-dialed her.

"Hey, Mordecai!" said Margaret. "Oh yeah, I can't wait for our date tonight…Yes, I'll be coming over to the park at 7:00…of course…I'll bring her over…okay, bye."

Turning towards Eileen, Margaret said "Hey Eileen, Mordecai actually wants you to come over to the park with me. He says he needs a favor from you."

"Really? What is it?" said Eileen, interested.

"He didn't say." said Margaret. "He only said it was important."

"Ooh, that sounds fun." said Eileen.

* * *

><p>7:00 soon came as Margaret pulled up to the park house in her vehicle, Eileen in the passenger seat. Margaret shut off the engine, and both of them got out of the car. Eileen was wearing her normal non-work clothes, while Margaret had on a black spaghetti-strap gown, a silver bracelet and a pair of earrings, as well as a pair of nice high-heeled shoes.<p>

The two ladies made their way to the front door of the house (Margaret with some difficulty, as she wasn't quite used to walking in heels) and knocked on the door, which opened to reveal Mordecai, who was certainly dressed for the occasion, wearing a suit with no pants. Behind him on the couch was Rigby, who was currently watching TV with a surly look on his face, his broken arm resting at his side.

"Hey Margaret! Hey Eileen!" said Mordecai, waving to them. "Come on in."

The two girls complied and walked into the house as asked.

"Hey Eileen, can you do me a huge favor?" asked Mordecai.

"Of course, Mordecai. What do you need?" said Eileen.

"Well, as you remember, Rigby has that broken arm. Benson's restricted him to the park unless I was with him, and considering I'm not going to be here to watch him, and I don't completely trust him to be able to behave himself home alone, I need you to watch over him while we're gone. Do you think you can do that, Eileen?" asked Mordecai.

"Oh sure, I can do that!" said Eileen, her face lighting up.

"Alright, just make sure that he stays out of trouble. Even though I would prefer it if he stays in the house, he can go around the park if he wants to, just as long as you stay with him. Okay?" said Mordecai.

"Gotcha." said Eileen.

"Thanks, Eileen. You've been a big help." said Mordecai. Turning towards Margaret, he asked "Are you ready to go?"

Margaret nodded, and Mordecai offered his arm to her, which she gladly accepted. "See you later, guys!" said Mordecai, waving back at Rigby and Eileen. Eileen waved back, while Rigby just continued pouting.

* * *

><p>Il Costoso was one of those restaurants that really stick out, no matter where you might find it, so Mordecai and Margaret had no difficulty finding it, even though neither of them had ever been there before. They actually ended up arriving during the busiest time of the night, but thankfully they had their reservations, as the line to get in stretched around the block (Il Costoso just happened to be one of the most popular fancy restaurants in town). Il Costoso was so classy, they also had VIP parking, which Mordecai &amp; Margaret were only too happy to use. As the attendant drove off with the car, Mordecai &amp; Margaret headed inside, this time holding hands, up to the maitre d', who as you probably expected was snooty and French.<p>

"Excuse me sir, we have reservations for two under Margaret." said Margaret.

The maitre d' checked the reservation list, and after a few seconds, found their names. "Of course. Right this way, please." said the maitre d' as he grabbed a pair of menus and headed into the dining room, Mordecai & Margaret following close behind.

The dining room was packed, as expected. Mordecai, Margaret and the maitre d' were having a difficult time just getting around. But finally, they reached their table which was in a special area of the dining room. It turns out Il Costoso actually has a special section set aside for reservations, which is in a separate room from the main hall. The owners have paid no expense in making sure that this was the best VIP room ever seen. The furniture is about as fancy as you can get, and the walls were actually soundproof, which lends to the romantic atmosphere of the place, compared to the noise outside.

There were a few other dates going on in this room, but thankfully they were considerate enough to keep it on the down low. Anyway, Mordecai and Margaret's table was located on the far left side of the VIP room, and when they finally got a look at the table, Mordecai's jaw dropped. The table they were sitting at was just about the most exquisite thing he has ever seen in his life.

"Wow, no wonder this place is the most popular in town. It's beautiful in here." said Mordecai as he and Margaret sat down.

"I know, can you believe it?" said Margaret.

"Kind of makes me wish we threw that cruising bet a while back, just so we could have seen this much earlier." said Mordecai. Margaret just giggled in response.

Mordecai and Margaret continued chatting animatedly for a few minutes before the waiter showed up. Keeping with the theme, the waiter was also quite snooty, but not as stereotypically French as the maitre d'. "Are you two ready to order?" said the waiter.

"Yes, we are." said Mordecai. "I'll have the Baltic sea scallops with red wine reduction."

"Of course." said the waiter. "And you, madam?"

"I think I will have the kobe-braised short ribs on a gold leaf." said Margaret.

"Oh, and can we have some of the rustic artisan cheese bread as well?" said Mordecai.

"But of course." said the waiter, as he wrote down the order. "The bread should arrive shortly, as well as the water."

"Thanks." said both Mordecai and Margaret at the same time. They both paused, and realizing what they both have done, laughed quietly.

* * *

><p>The bread soon arrived as promised, and Mordecai &amp; Margaret both dug in, while still retaining their manners.<p>

"So Mordecai, how have things been going with you and Rigby?" asked Margaret.

"Pretty good, actually. Rigby's actually been behaving himself pretty well, so I haven't really had to deal with any big issues in terms of keeping him from hurting himself again." said Mordecai.

"How many more days until he can get his cast off?" asked Margaret.

"Eighteen after tonight. I'm hoping that the rest of these days go by as smoothly as the first ten, but knowing Rigby, I don't know for sure." said Mordecai.

"Let's hope so. So anyway, getting off that topic, anything special happen with you or Rigby?" asked Margaret.

"Nothing too much, to be honest. As you already know, Don visited us over the past few days. Also, do you remember our last date we had with Rigby & Eileen?" said Mordecai.

"Oh yeah, I remember now. We went to go see that zombie movie, and Rigby got so freaked out by it, we had to drag him in to the restaurant." said Margaret, once again giggling.

"Well, just yesterday, I took him to go see a psychiatrist, and we managed to cure his fear of horror movies." said Mordecai.

"Really? Cool. Maybe next time we go out together, we can bring him & Eileen along, go see another scary movie." said Margaret.

"I'd love to." said Mordecai.

* * *

><p>The food soon came to their tables, and the two birds dug in to their respective dishes. While they were eating, they continued to engage in small talk. Margaret most talked about her job at the coffee shop and spending time with Eileen, while Mordecai talked about working at the park and interacting with everybody there. He even threw in a little Benson bashing, but it was nothing too harsh, as he still cared for his boss as a person (well…gumball machine).<p>

Finally, their food finished, Mordecai & Margaret received their check. It unfortunately was a little too expensive for either to pay on their own, so Margaret used her credit card and Mordecai handed her his share of the bill. Margaret even left a nice tip on the table for the exceptional service.

After the bill was paid off, Mordecai stood up and once again offered his arm to Margaret, which she gladly accepted. He led her out of the restaurant, weaving between the tables, which were less packed but still pretty full. Once they reached outside, they hailed the attendant and he retrieved their car. Mordecai once again took the driver's seat as Margaret sat shotgun, resting her head on Mordecai's shoulder.

"That was a wonderful dinner, Mordecai." said Margaret.

"Thanks. You've been a big help as well, getting us those reservations. Without those, I don't think we would have had anywhere near as good a time." said Mordecai.

"Oh, I think we probably still would have." said Margaret as she sat up. "The VIP room added a lot of romantic atmosphere to it, though."

"Oh, I totally agree." said Mordecai.

Soon enough, the park came over the horizon, as well as the house in the middle. Mordecai pulled up in front of the house, and was about to get out, when Margaret grabbed his arm.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Mordecai?" asked Margaret.

Mordecai blushed furiously as he remembered the most important part of the date. Butterflies flew in his stomach as his nerves shot up immensely.

"It's now or never." thought Mordecai. He steeled his nerve and began moving slowly towards Margaret, his beak outstretched and puckered up. The two birds' beaks were about to reach each other and finally kiss when a furious knocking on the driver's side window interrupted them, forcing them to pull back apart.

Mordecai angrily turned towards the window to see Rigby, his face pressed up against the window. Mordecai rolled down the window and said "What the heck, dude? What do you need so badly that you can't wait until we get inside?"

"I've got something so important to tell you. I think you're definitely going to love this." said Rigby, as he excitedly rushed inside.

Mordecai rolled his eyes, and got out of the car and let Margaret out as well before heading inside, wondering just what the heck happened with Rigby & Eileen to get him this excited.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's all we've got for this story! So, we've got ourselves a bit of a cliffhanger here. What has happened to get Rigby all excited? And what happened between Rigby &amp; Eileen while Mordecai &amp; Margaret were on their date? Well, you're going to have to stay tuned to Chapter 13 of The Month from 'H' to find those details out. I also stuck in a little Easter Egg of sorts for those of you who pay attention to the show. The food that Margaret &amp; Mordecai order are something you might recognize from the show. Just tell me where it comes from, and I will recognize you guys before the next story. There's a clue in the story as well, just so you know.<br>**

**Anyway, so I hope you guys have enjoyed this little bit of romance I've concocted up. I'll see you guys next time for the next installment of The Fanfiction Rotation!**

**RK**


	6. Story 5

Genre: Horror/Suspense/Thriller

Requested By: Rising Equinox

Summary: Mordecai, Rigby, Margaret and Eileen go to visit what they think is a haunted house for Halloween, but it turns out to actually be the home of a demented serial killer, which ends up putting their lives in extreme danger.

WARNING: This story is rated M (just to be safe) for scenes of blood and gore and a character death. There will also be some MordecaixMargaret in here.

* * *

><p>It was your typical Halloween night. The kids were trick-or-treating, their parents following closely behind. Other people were sitting out on their porches or in their yards, passing out candy while they enjoy the beautiful nighttime weather this day brought them. But the story isn't in this city, oh no. Our story starts on the highway heading out of Twin Pines, where only one car was on the road (considering everyone else in the city was too busy to travel). This car contained four people named Mordecai, Rigby, Margaret, and Eileen, and they were on their way to a haunted house which was on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately, this was closest one they could find, so they didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.<p>

Before they left, they watched a scary movie to get themselves in the mood. So, while it did work on most of them, it ended up having the opposite effect on Rigby, who had a history of being frightened by scary movies. So, the entire car ride over, Rigby's eyes were the size of saucers, and his mouth was a thin line while he tried his best to not freak out. Mordecai, who had to deal with Rigby's issues every time they watched one of those kinds of movies, decided that he was done trying to calm him down, and took the driver's seat. Unfortunately, this left Margaret and Eileen to deal with Rigby. Obviously, it wasn't working all that well, as calming him down is a feat that would be incredibly difficult without knowing Rigby as well as Mordecai did.

"Come on, Rigby. That was one of the cheesiest movies we ever saw! I don't know why you would think a cardboard cutout of a ghost would be scary." said Margaret, clearly exasperated.

Even with Margaret sitting behind Rigby, she could still clearly see the raccoon furiously shaking his head, before returning to his original state.

Eileen, meanwhile, was lost in thought, trying to figure out a way out of this mess. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. She reached over, and placed a hand on Margaret's shoulder.

"I wouldn't bother with him anymore, Margaret. He's just a little scaredy-cat." said Eileen. Margaret looked over at her with a questioning look. Eileen winked in response, and it finally dawned on Margaret what she was planning.

"Oh yeah, Eileen. The little fraidy-cat can't take one little scary movie, and a really bad one at that." said Margaret.

Mordecai was listening to the conversation the whole time, but he decided not to step in, considering he believed the girls had it covered.

"STOP TALKING!" yelled Rigby, almost bursting out of his seat in anger. "I am not a wimp! I can take anything you guys can throw at me!"

Rigby was currently staring straight at the two girls, which gave Mordecai the opportunity to act.

"Boo!" Mordecai yelled. Rigby jumped in fright, nearly banging his head on the roof of the car, to the laughter of the other occupants.

"Don't worry, dude. I've done some research into this place. It's not really all that bad." said Mordecai, ruffling Rigby's hair a bit while the raccoon pouted.

* * *

><p>Soon enough, the car pulled up in front of a pretty imposing-looking mansion. A rickety sign greeted them at the front of the steps up to the front door, which read HAUNTED HOUSE in big green letters. Everyone except Eileen strode past the sign and headed up the stairs towards the front door, while she took a look at the sign. She gave it a couple knocks with her knuckles, testing the sturdiness, before shrugging and following the rest of the group inside. Little did they know, though, that Eileen put enough force on that sign to knock it off the rusty hooks, revealing another dingier sign that read "HOUSE OF DR. LUDWIG TAYLOR, SURGEON" with a few smears of dried blood on the edges, probably for effect.<p>

Let me quickly explain about Dr. Taylor here before I go on. As the sign said, he was a surgeon. In fact, he was one of the greatest surgeons ever known, until he lost his first patient. The realization broke him, and the number of dead patients grew as he began doing even more outlandish and disgusting things in surgery, to the point that he was immediately fired, and his medical license was revoked permanently. This incident sent him over the edge, and he holed up in his house, never to be seen again. Every Halloween, people go into his house, thinking it was a simple haunted house, but they never came back out. So anyway, back to the story.

The group slowly crept into the front door of the house. The door slammed behind them when they reached the middle of the foyer, causing them to jump, before they realized it was part of the attraction.

They continued to explore the house, checking out each of the rooms, before they came upon one of the most disgusting sights they've ever seen. Blood and guts covered the floor, while organs were scattered around the room on shelves in jars full of who knows what. Mordecai, Margaret and Eileen managed to hold in their bile, but Rigby wasn't so lucky, immediately upchucking on the ground.

"Ah sick, dude!" said Mordecai as he got the brunt of the splash damage. He brushed off as much of the goop as he could before checking on the two girls, who were mostly clean except for a few small chunks, which were barely noticeable. Mordecai groaned as he realized that he was going to have to finish the tour with a big mess down his front and part of his legs. He swore to himself that he was going to take a long shower once they got back to the park.

After closing the door to the room, they continued on their way through the house, when Rigby groaned in boredom.

"Dude, this isn't scary at all! And this is taking forever! Let's split up so we can cover more ground and hopefully amp up the scariness." said Rigby.

"I don't know, dude. This mansion's pretty big, and easy to get lost in." said Mordecai.

Margaret and Eileen sided with Rigby, though, so Mordecai was forced to accept since he was outvoted. They all brought their own flashlights, so they turned them on and went their separate ways.

* * *

><p>An hour has passed, and just as Mordecai predicted, he was hopelessly lost. He was currently looking around the area he was standing in, hoping to find a way back to the foyer, when a loud scream suddenly rang out.<p>

"Margaret?" said Mordecai out loud. The blue jay strained his ears, trying to listen to the scream before confirming it was the robin. He took off in the direction of the noise, yelling "Margaret!"

Mordecai ran through the house as fast as his legs could carry him, before a second scream pierced the air, this time male.

"Rigby!" yelled Mordecai, as he once again took off in that direction. The only thing that was going through his mind was a constant stream of "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap…"

A third scream soon rang out, and Mordecai was now thoroughly scared out of his wits. Everyone else was gone, and he was now alone, wondering when he would be the one to disappear next.

Mordecai anxiously crept through the house, his flashlight wildly waving around as he checked all around the house for any sign of his missing group mates, before a pair of hands reached out and grabbed Mordecai, dragging him away kicking and screaming, before the mysterious man put him to sleep with a rag full of chloroform.

* * *

><p>Mordecai slowly opened his eyes as he finally woke up. Unsure of where he was, he attempted to sit up, only to realize that he was tied to a chair with rope. The fear that he felt after his friends were captured came back in force as he realized he could die at any moment. He started to furiously struggle at his bonds, only to realize that whoever tied him down here failed to bolt down the chair, as he could easily rock it back and forth. He put the revelation at the back of his mind as the mysterious man made his way over to the blue jay, revealing Dr. Ludwig Taylor.<p>

"Well, hello there, my bird friend!" said Dr. Taylor. Mordecai only continued to struggle in response, careful not to rock the chair so as to tip off the doctor to the flaw.

"Oh, I'm afraid that those ropes are quite thick and are impossible to break." said the doctor. "Now, to business. I've always had a bit of a fascination with biology. You know, dissecting animals and such. So, imagine my surprise when four animals come into my front door! I couldn't resist, even after all of the human bodies I've dissected. I've gotten so bored of dissecting humans, so I decided just to up and kill them, instead of wasting my time."

"You're sick!" said Mordecai, as he spat at the doctor to punctuate his point. The doctor clearly wasn't listening, as he strode over to the table and flipped the lights on, revealing Rigby chained to a table, his chest sliced completely open, the flaps of his skin opened to reveal his organs. Rigby was still alive, but barely, only able to let out a weak "Mor…de…cai…" before the doctor swiftly slit his throat to keep him quiet. The only sounds that could be heard was Rigby choking to death as Mordecai could only look on in shock, before finally losing his lunch.

The doctor soon finished his work, tossing Rigby's lifeless body off to the side, before leaving the room temporarily. A few minutes passed as Mordecai silently cried for his lost best friend, before the doctor returned, carrying a gagged Margaret, who was struggling her heart out and screaming as much as she could through her gag. Margaret tried to catch Mordecai's attention once she saw him, finally managing to do it once she was tied down.

Mordecai became enraged as he heard Margaret's voice. As the doctor turned around to begin his work, Mordecai stood up, the chair still tied to his back, before running furiously at the doctor, and spinning around, slamming the chair into the doctor, and shattering it into pieces. Finally free, Mordecai grabbed the nearest tool he could find to defend himself, which was a piece of the broken chair. It was already pretty sharp on one of the ends, but Mordecai grabbed one of the doctor's tools and quickly attempted to file it down in an attempt to make it sharper, before the doctor got back up.

The doctor finally woke back up, and turned around to face the blue jay, thoroughly enraged at getting interrupted. He grabbed the sharpest tool he could find, which turned out to be a scalpel. Mordecai unfortunately did a pretty shoddy job with filing in his haste to finish, but he was still confident it was sharp enough.

The two combatants traded blows with their weapons. The chair shard thankfully was thick, so Mordecai was attempting to whack the doctor with the blunt end of it, while the doctor slashed at Mordecai with his scalpel. The fight dragged on for minutes, before Mordecai managed to pin the doctor's weapon arm against one of the walls with his chair leg. He pushed harder and harder against the arm, compressing it against the wall, eventually forcing the doctor to let go of the scalpel. Unarmed, the doctor was forced to use his fists to defend himself, eventually getting Mordecai in a chokehold. Releasing the chair leg, Mordecai believed that he was going to die right there, when suddenly, the chair leg burst through the doctor's neck. He was dead within seconds, slowly flopping down on to the ground seconds after Mordecai got out of the way, successfully avoiding getting impaled himself. Brushing himself off, he turned around, looking for his savior, only to realize it was Eileen that did the deed. Somehow, she still remained relatively clean, a fact that Mordecai just couldn't comprehend as he stood there with blood covering his face and chest. He decided it was probably best to ignore it, as he fished through the doctor's pockets and recovered a key that he used to release Margaret from her restraints. Mordecai was quickly met with a hug from the robin, who cried her eyes out after realizing just how close she came to dissection bait. Mordecai could only just pat her on the shoulder to comfort, unable to say anything except "Shh, you're going to be okay Margaret."

Margaret's tears soon dried out, reduced to dry sobs. "Come on, let's go home." said Mordecai quietly, as he led both ladies out of the room, but not before grabbing Rigby's body and attempting to return his organs to his body, before giving up and carrying his empty shell out of the house.

* * *

><p>Back at the park, the group buried Rigby in the cemetery, after they each gave their own eulogy to the raccoon. Mordecai and Margaret were constantly holding hands as the proceedings went on. The group was about to head back to the house to rest, when Mordecai stopped in his tracks.<p>

"What is it, Mordecai?" asked Margaret.

Mordecai sighed and said "Can you guys just give me a minute with Rigby?"

Both Margaret and Eileen nodded and headed back towards the house, Margaret giving Mordecai a kiss on the cheek. Mordecai stood in front of Rigby's headstone, which was a simple one that read his name, his date of birth and his date of death. Mordecai stood there for a few minutes, letting the tears fall, before choking out "I'm going to miss you, dude". He kissed his fingers and touched the headstone, before finally turning away and heading back to the house, wondering what he was going to do without his best bro.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of that story. Ugh. That wasn't fun. I didn't really want to kill anyone off, even after the last time I did that a few stories ago, but an "everyone lives" ending would have been too sappy and cliché. So, I'm sorry if you're unhappy that I killed Rigby off. Don't worry, though, it's just a one-shot, so he'll be back next story. So, for those of you wondering how Eileen escaped, I've got one word for you. Hairpins. I'm sure you can figure it out.<strong>

**So anyway, that's all for now. We'll see you next time with bg52598's request! See you guys next time!**

**RK**


	7. Story 6

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Friendship

Requested By: bg52598

Summary: Mordecai wakes up with stomach pains. At first, he figures it was nothing, and Rigby agrees with him. But soon, it gets much worse.

* * *

><p>The only sound that could be heard in Margaret's apartment was soft rustling, as she and Mordecai were currently in bed together. Nothing really explicit happened, though (really only kissing), a fact that Mordecai was slightly disappointed about, but he didn't think it was anything worth making a big deal about, so he continued doing his business.<p>

Finally finished, the two lovebirds broke apart and laid back on their sides of the bed.

"Well, that was fun." said Mordecai, resting his head on his hands.

"Yeah, it was." said Margaret, who was equally content.

"Kind of wish there was more, though." said Mordecai.

"Do you want there to be more?" asked Margaret. Mordecai's eyes widened as he heard that.

"Really? You want to go further?" asked Mordecai.

"Yeah, sure. I think it's about a good a time as ever to finally go the distance." said Margaret.

"Awesome." said Mordecai.

The two lovebirds were about to finally go all the way, when suddenly a splitting pain hit Mordecai's side.

"Owww! Margaret!" said Mordecai, wincing as he felt it.

"What?" asked Margaret.

"Not so rough." said Mordecai.

"What do you mean? We didn't even start yet." said Margaret.

Mordecai was suddenly confused, when another wave of pain hit him, and…

* * *

><p>…woke him up.<p>

Mordecai's eyes shot open as his side began to hurt. He sat up, against the protests of his side, and looked around, thinking that Rigby was hitting him in the side, which in that case would be a miracle, considering even with his friend's complete lack of arm strength, he still felt pain.

Rigby wasn't in the room, though, a fact that left Mordecai greatly puzzled. Rather than dwell on it, though, he decided to just push it to the back of his mind and start his normal routine.

After taking a shower, Mordecai made his way downstairs to the kitchen to find his best friend Rigby already at the kitchen table, eating his customary overflowing bowl of cereal.

"Hey, dude?" asked Mordecai.

"Yeah?" said Rigby. His mouth was full of cereal, so it came out all muffled. Swallowing, he cleared his throat and said "What is it?"

"I woke up a couple of minutes ago with this sharp pain in my side. Were you doing something to me while I was asleep? Because if so, that's not cool, dude." said Mordecai.

"I didn't do anything!" said Rigby, immediately going on the defensive. "Besides, you know I can't punch well, as much as I hate to admit it."

"Alright dude, I trust you." said Mordecai. "I was just checking. It kind of makes me wonder what that was all about, though."

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about it. It's probably nothing." said Rigby.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." said Mordecai, as he sat down and poured his own bowl of cereal.

* * *

><p>Unfortunately for the two groundskeepers, Benson was feeling pretty ornery today, so they ended up getting loaded up with multiple jobs, which they were obviously not looking forward to.<p>

Surprisingly though, most of the jobs went by pretty smoothly despite Rigby's complaining, so they were currently only left with one last job, which was to collect all of the garbage. They ended up getting the worse end of it, though, as the park hosted an eating contest the previous day, so the trash cans scattered around the park were full of half-eaten food, dinnerware, and other assorted products.

So, essentially, it was slow work, added to the fact that, for one, Rigby wasn't helping, and two, Mordecai began experiencing worse pains in his side each time he lifted one of the full bags of trash. He was stubborn, though, so he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to be labeled as a whiner over something as small as this (at least in his mind he thought it was small).

Eventually, they finally finished changing the trash cans, and dropped off the bags at the dump. They soon returned to the house, only to run into Benson, who was waiting on the porch with his arms crossed.

"There you two are!" said Benson. "What took you guys so long?"

"Oh, sorry Benson." said Mordecai. "The trash from the eating contest took a little longer than expected to clean up. Sir Naps-a-lot here didn't really help out much, either." he said as he pointed to Rigby, who as expected was asleep.

Benson pinched the bridge of his nose and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before saying "We'll deal with him later. Wake him up and tell him that we're all going out to Cheezer's for dinner." He then headed back inside the house before Mordecai could say anything else.

Mordecai headed back over to the cart and shook Rigby awake. A puddle of drool was beginning to form on Rigby's chest as he slept, so as the raccoon jumped awake, a bit of Rigby's drool went flying from his open mouth and hit Mordecai in the face.

"Aw dude, sick!" said Mordecai, as he backed off from Rigby and hurriedly wiped his face off.

"Wait, what did I do?" asked Rigby, confused.

"Your drool hit me in the face!" said Mordecai, still trying to clean himself off.

"Oh, sorry about that, dude." said Rigby.

"It's cool. Just don't do it again." said Mordecai. "Anyway, Benson's taking us all to Cheezer's, so go and get yourself ready, alright?"

Rigby wasn't listening, though. "We're going to Cheezer's? Sweet!" he said. He jumped out and began dancing in his excitement as he made his way inside the house. Rolling his eyes, Mordecai followed his excited friend inside.

* * *

><p>The atmosphere inside Cheezer's was boisterous, as everyone was eagerly chatting with each other and enjoying their cheese-related products. Inside two of the booths on the floor due to the size of the group was everyone from the park. Mordecai, Rigby, Benson and Pops were sitting in one booth, while Skips, Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost were sitting in the other. Benson took care of the ordering and payment, so they were currently waiting for the food to finish so they could pick it up.<p>

Thankfully, Cheezer's was fast food, so it didn't take long at all to finish, even with the crowd that was inside at this time of night.

"Benson, order for seven people!" said the cashier over the intercom.

Benson was about to get up to pick up the food, but Mordecai got up first.

"Don't worry Benson, I'll go get the food." said Mordecai.

Benson's eyes widened in surprise temporarily, but he sat back down. "Go right ahead." said the gumball machine, raising his arms into a position like he was offering his spot in a line to someone else.

Mordecai made his way over to the counter, and grabbed both of the trays, which, thanks to Muscle Man's eating habits, were pretty heavy. Mordecai gritted his teeth, and lifted both trays as high as he could. He slowly made his way back over to the table and set one of the trays on the secondary booth. Before he could set the other tray down, though, a violent wave of pain shot out of his side, and Mordecai collapsed and passed out, unable to take the agony. The tray of food clattered onto the floor as the food itself went everywhere. Their lost meal was the last things on their mind, though.

"Mordecai!" yelled Rigby. Springing out of his seat, the raccoon rushed over to his fallen friend and clutched him tightly.

"Move over!" said Benson, roughly pushing Rigby out of the way. He carefully checked over his fallen employee's body and noticed his chest was still rising and falling as normal. "Good, he's still breathing."

At that point, Skips, Pops and Fives have made their way over to the scene and held vigil, worried for the well-being of their co-worker and friend. Muscle Man, meanwhile, was busy pigging out, so he was pretty much indisposed at the moment.

"Rigby, go call an ambulance." said Benson, calmly. Rigby obliged, and quickly made his way over to the cashier, who pointed out the location of the phone. While they were waiting for the ambulance, Benson kept a close watch on Mordecai, ready to perform CPR if need be (Benson, as an employer, was certified to perform life-saving procedures).

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes have passed since Rigby made the call, when the ambulance finally arrived in front of the restaurant. Two EMT's rushed in pushing a gurney between them that they loaded the unconscious Mordecai on to. They were about ready to head back to the hospital after loading Mordecai into the ambulance when Rigby tapped one of the EMTs on the side.<p>

"What is it, sir? We're kind of in a hurry, here." said the EMT.

"Can I please ride with him? He's my best friend, and I'm really worried about him." said Rigby.

The EMT paused for a moment, conferring with his partner, before saying "Yeah, sure. Just don't get in our way if something happens, alright?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. I promise I won't get in your way." said Rigby.

"Alright, let's go, quickly!" said the EMT, pushing Rigby into the back of the ambulance. The raccoon couldn't think of anything to do to ease the constant worry in his gut, so he spent the ride over just holding Mordecai's hand in between his own.

* * *

><p>The mood was pretty subdued inside Mordecai's room in the hospital. The doctor that was assigned to Mordecai quickly diagnosed that the blue jay was suffering from appendicitis, which meant that he would have to have his appendix removed. The surgery thankfully went smoothly, but that still didn't ease the pain and guilt that everyone else was feeling at the moment.<p>

Rigby was sitting down on a chair with his head in his hands, as his head was swimming. All he could think about was how he regretted not being there for him. He wished that he wasn't so dismissive when it came to that morning when Mordecai mentioned the pain. He also was wishing that he at least gave Mordecai a hand with the work that day. Even with not having a high school diploma, he knew that the exertion that Mordecai put out lifting all of those heavy objects only made his appendicitis worse.

Meanwhile, Benson was standing off to the side, depressed. On other days, he would have chalked it up to bad timing, but did regret the fact that his bad mood that morning was one of the factors that led to Mordecai being in this state. He knew he couldn't completely eliminate his anger issues, but he decided he was going to try his hardest not to come to work already angry.

Everyone else, while they were sad to see Mordecai in this state, weren't involved with hurting the blue jay, so they spent their time watching over Mordecai.

* * *

><p>A week has passed, and Mordecai was finally free to leave the hospital. Mordecai walked out of the hospital to find the cart waiting there for him, containing Benson and Rigby, the latter patting the seat next to him as a signal to sit down there, which Mordecai happily obliged to.<p>

The ride back to the park was for the most part quiet, until Rigby piped up.

"Hey Mordecai? We're glad to see that you're alright." said Rigby.

"Thanks, dude. I'm glad to be okay myself." said Mordecai.

Rigby paused a second before continuing. "Benson and I just wanted to apologize, though."

"For what?" asked Mordecai.

"For being too hard on you." said Rigby.

"Yeah, neither of us realized that you were suffering like that. If I'd have known, I wouldn't have given you so much work that would have ended up making things worse." said Benson.

"Don't worry guys, you're forgiven." said Mordecai. "I'm kind of at fault a little bit as well. I didn't think it was as bad as it was, so I didn't mention anything. Even when it got worse, I didn't want to be a complainer, so I kept my mouth shut, when I shouldn't have. So, I'm sorry."

Both Rigby and Benson nodded, accepting Mordecai's apology. Finally free of their shared guilt, the two park workers sat back and enjoyed the rest of the ride back.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this story! I hope you guys have all enjoyed it, as much as I did writing it. Admittedly, it was a request that I was looking forward to doing. So anyway, I'll be seeing you guys next time, as it is now holt2m4nn's turn inside the Fanfiction Rotation! See ya!<strong>

**RK**


	8. Story 7

Genre: Hurt/Humor/Drama/Friendship

Requested By: holt2m4nn

Summary: It's a week before Rigby's birthday, and Mordecai sets him up on a date with Eileen. Rigby doesn't show up, as he starts hanging out with a new raven, and he begins to drift apart from Mordecai. It's up to Mordecai, Eileen and Margaret to bring him back to his old ways.

TWO NOTES: One is to marcelinefan. While I would like to accommodate you and put you after this one, that would unfortunately not be fair to everyone between you two. I did say this is first come, first serve, so I can't really break that rule. Sorry.

The second note is that, while I don't mind it if you put suggestions in anonymous reviews, I would really appreciate it if you put them in signed reviews, so I can actually communicate with you if needed. If that's not possible, at least put a name on the review, so I know what to call you for the requested by slot. Thanks.

* * *

><p>Mordecai and Rigby were sitting down at their usual table at the coffee shop. Eileen showed up a couple of minutes after they sat down, and they placed their orders. Shockingly, Rigby actually managed to keep a conversation with Eileen going without blowing her off. As Eileen walked off to prepare their orders, Rigby's expression changed ever so slightly, making it look like someone who was in love. Seconds later, though, Rigby returned to his normal expression in an attempt to hide his momentary lapse, but Mordecai caught it, which gave him an idea. He decided to start it slow, though, so he began with a general question.<p>

"So Rigby, how does it feel to be a week away from being twenty-four?"

"Oh dude, I am so excited. I cannot wait! It's going to be so great to actually have something over you for once." said Rigby.

Mordecai rolled his eyes and said "That's great, dude. I've got a little bit of an early present for you, though, that I think you're going to like."

"Really? Awesome! Gimme gimme gimme!" said Rigby excitedly, holding out his hands to Mordecai and closing his eyes.

Mordecai paused without saying anything, long enough that Rigby opened one of his eyes, wondering what was going on.

"Dude, where's my present?" asked Rigby.

"If you'll calm down a second, I'll tell you." said Mordecai.

Rigby glared at him for a second, but calmed himself down.

"Okay, now this isn't really an actual "present" present. It's more of a question." said Mordecai.

Rigby didn't really like where this was going, but he continued listening.

"So, how would you feel if I told you that I set you up on a date with Eileen?" asked Mordecai.

"What? Why would you set me up on a date with her? I don't even like her!" said Rigby.

"Yes you do, Rigby. Do I need to remind you of your big secret?" asked Mordecai.

Mordecai didn't need to remind Rigby, as the raccoon remembered quite clearly blurting out how he thought Eileen looked hot without her glasses on. He was about ready to argue back, but Mordecai cut him off.

"Stop kidding yourself, dude. I can tell you've got some feelings for her." he said.

"Ugh, fine. I'll go on a date with her." said Rigby, defeated.

"Yeahuh!" said Mordecai, pumping his fist in the air in victory. "My bro is finally making his move!"

Mordecai then left the room to call Eileen, but little did the blue jay know was that a mess of thoughts were swimming through Rigby's head. Did he really like Eileen? Was he willing to take the next step and settle down with a girlfriend? Could he be more mature? All these questions kept popping up in Rigby's head, and it was driving him insane. Finally, not able to take it anymore, he clutched his head and let out a loud yell, hoping to clear his head. The noise unluckily was loud enough that Mordecai popped his head in from the kitchen, puzzled.

"You okay, dude?" asked Mordecai.

"Yeah, I'm fine." said Rigby. He paused for a second, before saying "I'm going to go take a walk."

"Okay, dude. Don't be out too long." said Mordecai, before returning to his call.

"Yeah yeah." said Rigby dismissively, before heading out the door.

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes have passed as Rigby continues to walk down the paths in the park. Unfortunately, the confusing thoughts in his head refused to go away, so while he was walking down one of the paths, he began smacking himself in the head, hoping to clear his mind. All it did, though, was give him a headache.<p>

Rigby was so lost in thought that he wasn't watching where he was going, and he ended up running into someone else who was walking down the same path. Rigby sat on the ground, rubbing his head, when he finally took a look at who he ran into, and his eyes widened in surprise.

Sitting across from him was an almost exact copy of Mordecai. The only difference was that this bird was completely black all over with white stripes around his fingers and tail feathers. Rigby racked his brain for a second and figured out that this bird was most likely a raven.

"Hey, watch where you're going, buddy!"

"Sorry, dude." said Rigby. "Guess I just wasn't paying attention to where I was going for a second there."

The raven paused, collecting himself, before sitting up and offering his hand to Rigby, who gladly accepted it as he was pulled to his feet.

"Hey, it's no problem, dude. Accidents happen. Name's Michael, by the way." said the raven.

"Rigby." said the raccoon.

"Nice name." said Michael. "Say, would you like to come join me at my house for a bit? You know, to clear the air?"

Rigby wasn't sure at first. He knew better than to immediately follow someone he didn't even know, but this guy seemed pretty nice and trusting.

"Sure. Let's go."

Michael grabbed Rigby's shoulder and led him in the right direction towards his house.

* * *

><p>A week has passed, and it's finally Rigby's birthday, but the raccoon was nowhere in sight. Mordecai was admittedly a little nervous, as he was hoping that everything would go alright with Rigby's date.<p>

Eileen and Mordecai worked together over the past week to set things up. He let Rigby know of their plans soon after, but he seemed noticeably spaced out. It made Mordecai a little nervous to see, but he decided to let it go and pushed the thought to the back of his head.

Currently, Mordecai was sitting on a branch of one of the trees in the park, hiding so he could keep an eye on the proceedings of Rigby and Eileen's date. Speaking of Eileen, she was sitting on a bench a few feet away from the tree that Mordecai was sitting in, anxiously awaiting Rigby's arrival.

However, two hours pass, and there is no sign of the raccoon. Eileen continued to sit on the bench, but by this point, her hope that Rigby would show up was pretty much gone. She hung her head, and a few tears fell as the realization that Rigby stood her up finally hit home.

Meanwhile, Mordecai sat in the tree seething. Not only was he mad at Rigby for ditching Eileen, but he was also mad at him for the fact that the last time he saw him, he didn't really even look like he cared about his impending date.

Finally having had enough, Mordecai jumped down from the tree (thankfully not breaking anything). Eileen jumped, as she wasn't aware that Mordecai was in the area.

"Mordecai? What are you doing here?"

"Getting to the bottom of this." said Mordecai, with a stern look on his face. "Come on, Eileen, let's go find Rigby."

Eileen was a little confused, but she willingly followed Mordecai as he made his way towards the exit of the park.

* * *

><p>Unfortunately, an hour has passed, and Eileen and Mordecai were unable to find Rigby anywhere in the area. Defeated, they returned to the park house.<p>

"Sorry, Eileen. I guess we're going to have to try to find him tomorrow." said Mordecai.

"Don't worry about it, Mordecai." said Eileen, though she looked incredibly depressed at this point.

Mordecai was about to reply, but then he heard a loud noise coming from inside the house. He pressed his ear to the front door and listened intently.

"What are you…" said Eileen, before Mordecai silenced her with a shush. He beckoned at Eileen, telling her to come closer, which she did.

"There's something going on in there." whispered Mordecai. "You stay close. I'm going to open the door."

Mordecai did just that, opening the door to find Rigby sitting on the couch with a controller in his hand. The occupant of the seat next to him was what surprised Mordecai and Eileen. The guy looked just like Mordecai except for the black and white coloring.

Before Mordecai could collect himself and confront the two, Eileen took the initiative and walked over to Rigby, before angrily slapping him in the face.

"I can't believe you, Rigby! You completely stood me up just so you could hang out with this guy?"

"Yeah Rigby, that's really low, even for you. And who is this jerk, anyway?" asked Mordecai.

Michael flinched at the insult, but didn't let it get to him. Standing up, he reached his hand out in a handshake gesture.

"Michael. Pleased to meet you."

Mordecai was still wary, but he shook hands with the newcomer.

"So Rigby, mind explaining why there's this random guy here, when no one's allowed in here except for employees?"

"He's my new best friend." said Rigby dismissively.

It took a moment to register in Mordecai's mind, but when it did, he snapped.

"Wait, what?!"

"You heard me." said Rigby. "He's a friend who doesn't guilt trip me into doing things I don't want to do, like dating someone I don't even like!"

That last sentence hit Eileen hard, who burst into tears before rushing out the door.

"Eileen, wait!" yelled Mordecai, before walking over to Rigby and punching him in the face.

"Oww! What was that for?" asked Rigby.

"You deserve it for being such a turd!" yelled Mordecai, before angrily stomping off.

Rigby started rubbing his jaw, trying to alleviate the pain, when Michael chimed in.

"Dude, you sure you don't want to come join me where I work? I can pull some strings and get you a position."

Michael has been trying to get Rigby to come work with him at a technology shack which was conveniently located across the street from the park, but so far Rigby has spurned all of his offers, wanting to stay at the park. But now that Mordecai most likely hates him now, he has only one choice to make.

"I'll take it."

* * *

><p>A few more weeks have passed, and the park is much emptier, as Rigby has left the park, preferring to instead live with Michael. Mordecai at first didn't care, as he was still angry at Rigby for leading Eileen on. As the days passed, though, his forgiving nature (combined with a chance to cool off) took over, and Mordecai began missing him dearly.<p>

Rigby never showed up at the park or coffee shop, a fact that began to upset Mordecai within the past few days, as he wanted to apologize. He even tried visiting the technology shack that Rigby now works at, but Rigby completely rebuffed his apology and threw him out of the store, adding some insults as the blue jay left.

So Mordecai has been spending most of his free time locked up in his room and laying on his bed, depressed. It has been that way for a while, but one day he decided to go to the coffee shop. Hopefully, he'll have Margaret and Eileen to talk to, and he might be able to hopefully get Rigby back.

* * *

><p>"So, can you help me, guys?" asked Mordecai.<p>

Margaret and Eileen were sitting across from Mordecai, after he recounted the story of what happened in the weeks after Rigby's birthday. After pondering for a moment, the two girls agreed and they began discussing ways to get Rigby back to his normal self.

They ran through a bunch of bad ideas before Margaret came up with one last one.

"How about we just try talking to Rigby and try to convince him that this new life isn't like him."

"I dunno. I tried apologizing to him a couple of times, but he just threw it in my face and threw me out of the store." said Mordecai.

"Well, we could just lock the door." said Eileen.

"I guess we could do that. Rigby can't throw us out, and he can't leave." said Mordecai.

"Alright, so it's settled. After our shift's over, we'll meet you by the technology shack." said Margaret.

"Sure thing, Margaret. I'll see you then." said Mordecai, as he left to prepare for what he was going to say.

* * *

><p>It's now evening time, and Mordecai, Margaret, and Eileen were standing outside the door to the technology shack.<p>

"So, everyone ready?" asked Margaret. "Know what you're going to say?"

Both Eileen and Mordecai nodded, before heading inside, Margaret following close behind.

It was near closing time in the technology shack, and the only person manning the counter just happened to be Rigby, who looked up and noticed the three looking at them.

"What do you want?"

"We just want to talk. That's all." said Mordecai.

"No, get out." said Rigby.

"We're not leaving until we get a chance to say what we need to say." said Eileen.

Rigby sighed and said "Fine. Follow me. Let's get some privacy."

Rigby jumped off of the stool he was sitting on and directed the three to the back room. Once they entered, Mordecai closed the door and turned the latch, locking them in.

"Uh, what are you doing?" asked Rigby.

"Making sure no one leaves until we get our point across." replied Mordecai.

Rigby sighed once again and sat down on one of the computers that was sitting on the floor.

"Alright, talk." said Rigby.

Eileen walked forward and began speaking.

"Rigby, all I ever wanted was for us to be together. I don't know why you can't seem to get that through your head, but I really like you. Mordecai told me about how you look at me sometimes like you're in love, but you continue to hide it. Why? Why would you hide it like that? It makes no sense to me. I'll admit that I can be a bit shy, but I'm absolutely willing to change that, as long as you can find it in your heart to share my feelings for you."

Rigby rolled his eyes, but Mordecai caught a barely visible twitch and softening of his expression, before he returned to his usual demeanor. Margaret then stepped up and did her speech, which mainly focused on the middle ground between his friendship with Mordecai and his "possible feelings" for Eileen. Rigby was still unimpressed, but the twitch became more noticeable, and his expression changed for a longer period of time before once again returning to his old look.

Finally, Mordecai stepped up and began speaking. His speech was a lot more succinct, though.

"Rigby, I'm sorry I treated you like a jerk. I know that you are sometimes, but you can't help it sometimes, and I understand that. I miss you, buddy. Please come back to the park."

Mordecai then did something that never happened before between them. He kneeled down in front of Rigby and grabbed him in a hug. Rigby didn't reciprocate the hug, however. Instead, the twitching became almost constant, as well as being highly noticeable.

"Huh?" Mordecai said, looking down at his friend. His eyes widened in surprise as he noticed the state Rigby was in, and he clutched him tighter, trying to stop him from moving. As the raccoon continued his convulsions, Mordecai managed to catch a look at the back of his head, and noticed a black chip embedded into it, which with the amount of fur Rigby had on him was difficult to see from long distances away.

Mordecai attempted to pull it off, but it didn't budge. Thankfully, it stopped Rigby from convulsing, and he laid down on the ground, out like a light.

"What's going on?" asked Margaret, as she and Eileen rushed over to the two friends.

"Rigby's got a chip on the back of his head. I'm guessing it's probably mind control or something." said Mordecai.

"But who would do something like this?" asked Eileen.

"If I had to guess, I would probably say that it was…" Mordecai said before a loud bang echoed through the room as the door opened, having being kicked off of its hinges by none other than Michael, who wore a confident smirk on his face.

"So, you've finally figured it out. Bravo."

"Why'd you do it, Michael?" asked Mordecai.

"Simple. Thanks to that Poe guy, everyone associates a raven with darkness. No one wants to be friends with someone like that. So I thought, why not just steal a friend? So, I went looking, and lo and behold, I literally run into one." said Michael.

Mordecai gave him the hardest glare he could muster before yelling "Give me back my friend, you jerk!"

Mordecai rushed towards Michael and socked him in the face. Michael was unfazed, though, and returned said punch. The two birds traded punches as Margaret and Eileen looked on, neither side letting up. Soon enough, Mordecai was backed up against a wall as Michael began flailing with his punches. As Mordecai held up his arms to block, he noticed that Michael had a very wide stance. Taking the opportunity, he kicked Michael in the junk. As Michael dropped to his knees, Mordecai wound his fist back and punched Michael in the stomach as hard as he could, sending the raven down for the count.

Mordecai stood over Michael's defeated form for a few seconds, savoring the moment, before reaching down and grabbing the raven by the scruff of his neck and holding him up to his face.

"How do I remove the chip?" asked Mordecai sternly. Michael pointed towards one of the shelves, and Margaret walked over and grabbed what looked like a wrench with an electric current running along the top.

"Hold the electric part up to the chip. It'll fry the circuitry. Then you can remove the chip with the wrench." said Michael weakly.

Mordecai did just that after dropping Michael to the floor, and the chip was removed without any problems.

It took a couple of seconds, but Rigby finally woke up to the expectant faces of his friends.

"What happened?"

"That jerk-off over there was mind controlling you, but we saved your butt." said Mordecai, after pointing towards Michael's crumpled form.

"Wow, thanks guys." said Rigby.

Mordecai picked Rigby up onto his feet, and they, along with Margaret and Eileen, left the store, but not before Rigby gave Eileen a hug and apologized to Mordecai for being a jerk. As they headed back towards the park, Rigby had one more thing to say.

"Hey, Mordecai? Will Benson give me my job back?"

"I don't know, dude. Let's hope so." said Mordecai.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this story. *sigh* Dear lord, this was long. It's pretty worth it, though. But I do want to apologize to anyone who thinks I went a little overboard with Mordecai and Rigby breaking up their friendship temporarily.<strong>

**Anyway, I hope that you all have enjoyed this story (especially holt2m4nn), and I will see you next time, when it's HeartbreakingRaya's turn in the Fanfiction Rotation! See you guys later!**

**RK**


	9. Story 8

Genre: Romance/Slash (Morby)

Requested By: HeartbreakingRaya

Summary: Mordecai and Rigby have been secretly dating for a few months now, but they have yet to tell anybody about it, because they don't know what they'll think. How will they be able to break the news?

NOTE: For those of you who are wondering, this is completely separate story-wise from This Empty Feeling. Think of it as a side story rather than an epilogue.

* * *

><p>It was nighttime at the park. Everything was quiet, and everyone was asleep, except for Mordecai and Rigby, who were sitting on the couch watching a movie. Now, you would figure that they would probably be just leaning back and getting comfortable on the couch, but the interesting thing about it was that those two were actually sitting quite close together. Rigby even had his head in Mordecai's lap, while the blue jay absent-mindedly scratched the coon's head. Every so often, Mordecai's scratching would end up behind Rigby's ears (which were a sensitive spot), and Rigby would let out an involuntary coo of pleasure, before letting Mordecai know with a look to cut it out.<p>

You see, Mordecai and Rigby have actually been dating for a few months now. It has been known for a while that Rigby has never really been interested in girls. Mordecai, meanwhile, after getting rejected by Margaret one time too many, has sworn off the opposite sex, knowing that no one would ever be able to live up to his fantasies about Margaret.

It did take a while, though, for them to realize their feelings for each other. Neither of them really gave any signs that they were into each other until a few weeks before they got together, when Rigby couldn't resist checking Mordecai out. Eventually, Mordecai caught on, and after some soul searching, finally got the picture. It didn't happen immediately, though.

* * *

><p>A few months ago, Mordecai and Rigby woke up as they normally do for another day on the job.<p>

"Morning, dude." said Mordecai.

"G'mornin." said Rigby, still half-asleep.

As Rigby yawned and stretched out his back, Mordecai couldn't help but watch the little raccoon's body as it stretched out in different directions. He blanked out for a couple of seconds as he continued to stare, before he finally snapped out of it. Blushing, he turned his head away, hoping that Rigby didn't notice, before getting up and heading towards the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Benson has given Mordecai and Rigby snack bar duty for the day, so most of the day was spent staring into space, as the visitor output was quite slow that day.

"Ugh, this is so boring!" said Rigby.

"I know, dude. Why even bother keeping the snack bar open when there's no one here?" said Mordecai.

Rigby just groaned and dropped his head into his arms. "I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me if Benson comes by."

Mordecai was about to protest, but Rigby was already fast asleep, flopping down on to the ground. Sighing, he turned back towards the window, but his eyes wandered back towards his best friend, as the coon writhed around trying to find the most comfortable position he could find on the ground.

Unfortunately, at that moment Mordecai could hear the noise of the cart coming closer. Dropping down to the ground so he wouldn't be seen, Mordecai shook Rigby, trying to wake him up. It didn't work, though. Mordecai eventually had to resort to slapping, so he picked the raccoon up and wound his hand back, before slapping Rigby as hard as he could.

"Owwww! What was that for?" said Rigby.

"Dude, Benson's coming! You told me to wake you up when that happened." said Mordecai.

"Well, you didn't have to hit so hard." said Rigby, cupping his cheek.

They both returned to their positions at the counter as Benson rode up in one of the carts to check up on them.

"How's the snack bar been going so far, guys?"

"Dude, no one's here." said Mordecai.

"Yeah, we haven't had any customers since we started." said Rigby.

Benson sighed. "You know what, you're right. I don't know why we bothered opening the snack bar on a slow day. Alright, I want you guys to close this up, and go help Thomas with pruning the bushes around the fountain. Got it?"

"Sure, Benson." said Mordecai.

"Good." said Benson, before driving off.

As Mordecai stretched his body up to reach the shutter, Rigby took his chance and snuck a peek at the blue jay as his body contorted. Mordecai felt like he was being watched, though, and has he turned around, Rigby blushed and looked away.

"You need something, dude?" asked Mordecai, confused.

"Naw, I'm good." said Rigby, though his mind was screaming at him to tell the truth.

* * *

><p>Neither of them knew what to say to each other after that, so the rest of the work day was spent in awkward silence. Even Thomas was confused as to what was going on with them. He attempted to carry on a conversation with them, but all he ever got out of either of them were short replies.<p>

Eventually, the day was finally over, and Mordecai and Rigby flopped down on the couch in exhaustion. Before they could begin their relaxation period, though, Benson came into the room and turned towards the two.

"Everyone's going out to McHooligan's to unwind. You guys want to come with us?"

Mordecai gave it some thought, but decided against it. "No thanks, Benson. It's been a long day, and I'd rather just rest."

"Yeah, me neither." said Rigby.

"You guys sure?" asked Benson.

Both Mordecai and Rigby nodded their heads.

"It's your loss. We'll see you guys later." said Benson, before walking out the door. Mordecai heard a "Wooo!" from multiple sources outside before the fading noise of the cart signaled that they were gone.

A few minutes have passed as the two groundskeepers sat in silence before Rigby sat up and turned on the TV. As the raccoon sat and watched, Mordecai's thoughts drifted to Rigby. He mulled through all of the instances of their interactions over the past few days, like when he secretly was checking him out, when his thoughts drifted towards the raccoon, and other things. Suddenly, a realization hit him like a brick.

"Could I like Rigby?"

He's already sworn off girls after his latest rejection, but he figured that he probably would just never date. He never imagined that he could develop feelings for his best friend, let alone the fact that he was gay in the first place. He needed some space to think, so he turned towards Rigby.

"I'll be right back, dude. I need some time to think about something."

"Yeah, sure dude." said Rigby, who clearly wasn't paying attention, as he was focused on the TV.

Mordecai got up and slowly made his way upstairs, before flopping on his bed and zoning out, becoming lost in thought. A few minutes passed as Mordecai debated the possibilities in his head, before he finally was comfortable with his decision. With some form of finality in his mind, Mordecai sat up on his bed and said the key words.

"I like him."

Having finally gotten comfortable with his sexuality, Mordecai stood up and proudly walked his way downstairs. Little did he know was that Mordecai and Rigby were not the only ones in the house, as Thomas was inside the computer room, absent-mindedly surfing the internet. Being too young to drink alcohol, Thomas was unable to join the rest of the gang, and not wanting to go home yet, he decided to spend some time on the computer.

So, Thomas pretty much heard all of Mordecai's declaration. Intrigued, Thomas snuck out of the computer room and followed Mordecai to the top of the stairs, where he hid as Mordecai walked down the steps and sat back down on the couch. He waited as Mordecai worked up the courage, before grabbing the remote and muting the TV.

"Hey, I was watching that!" said Rigby.

"Dude, I really need to talk to you about something." said Mordecai.

"And what would that be?" asked Rigby.

"Well…have you ever felt like that there could be something more between us?" asked Mordecai.

"What do you mean?" asked Rigby.

"I think…I think that I might be in love. With someone in this room right now." said Mordecai, clearly flustered.

A few seconds passed as Rigby tried to process what Mordecai said, when it suddenly hit him and his face lit up.

"Are you talking about me?"

"Yeah dude. I'm talking about you." said Mordecai.

Rigby fell silent as he considered the implications. Mordecai's face fell as he began thinking that something was going wrong.

"I…I love you too, dude." said Rigby meekly.

Mordecai's face lit up in joy, and he grabbed the raccoon in a giant hug, planting a kiss on his head. Rigby looked up and returned the gesture, giving him a kiss on the cheek (as he couldn't reach Mordecai's head).

Mordecai let go of Rigby soon after, but the raccoon stayed put, turning around towards the TV as Mordecai unmuted it and laid an arm around Rigby's stomach. The blue jay gave Rigby one last kiss on the head before focusing on the TV, as Rigby cooed in pleasure and Thomas returned to the computer room trying to process what happened.

"Mordecai and Rigby…are in love?"

* * *

><p>Coming back to the present, the movie was finally finished. Rigby sat up on the couch as Mordecai went to remove the tape from the VCR.<p>

"Hey, Mordecai?"

"Yeah, dude?"

"You think that maybe we should tell the other guys about our relationship? I mean, we've skipped out on a couple months worth of nights out and I think they might be getting suspicious."

Mordecai thought about it for a couple of seconds before saying "I think you're right, dude. But what are we going to say? We don't know what any of them think about homosexuality. And what about Margaret and Eileen?"

"Yeah, I know. But it's better than just keeping it hidden all the time."

Mordecai sighed, and sat down. "Fine. I guess it's for the best."

* * *

><p>A little while later, the rest of the park gang returned from their night out at the bowling alley and entered the house to find Mordecai and Rigby still on the couch.<p>

"Hey guys. How was bowling?" asked Mordecai.

"We had fun. Skips kicked all of our butts, though." said Thomas.

"Awesome. Can we talk to you guys for a moment?" said Rigby.

"Sure. What do you need?" asked Benson, intrigued.

"Well, we need you guys to sit down first." said Rigby.

The gang did as they were asked and sat down around the two friends. Mordecai let out a deep breath before he began.

"We've got a bit of a confession to make. You know how we've been avoiding all these nights out for the past couple months?"

Everyone nodded before Rigby continued.

"Well, Mordecai and I…we're in love."

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise, except for Thomas, who already knew.

"Wow, you guys. I certainly didn't expect to hear that from you two." said Benson.

"So, you're not mad at us?" asked Rigby.

"Mad? No. Just a little surprised. I kind of wish that you guys would have told us about this earlier." said Skips.

"We're sorry, Skips. We just didn't know what you guys would think." said Mordecai.

"Hey, as long as it doesn't interfere with your work, I don't really care." said Benson.

"Really? That's great!" said Rigby, who gave Mordecai a big hug in celebration.

As the group separated to do their own things, Thomas was the only one left besides Mordecai and Rigby. Unable to hide his secret anymore, Thomas spoke up.

"Can I tell you something, guys?"

"Sure, what's up Thomas?" asked Mordecai.

"Do you remember that day when you first got together?" asked Thomas.

"Yeah, why?" asked Rigby.

"I was hiding at the top of the steps when you admitted your feelings for one another." said Thomas.

"Well, that was unexpected." said Mordecai. "So, what do you think about us being together?"

"Well, I was originally uncomfortable with the idea, but I've given it some thought since then, and I'm okay with it. Just don't do anything dirty in front of me, alright?" said Thomas.

"Sure thing." said Rigby.

Satisfied, Thomas left to head back home.

* * *

><p>The next day, Mordecai and Rigby went to the coffee shop to tell Margaret and Eileen about their relationship. Eileen predictably was disappointed at losing Rigby, but she congratulated the two and agreed to remain friends with them. Margaret, meanwhile, was a little more apprehensive about the prospect of the two being together. But after she gave it some thought, she also agreed to remain friends.<p>

So as the weeks passed, Mordecai and Rigby continued to grow closer. Sure, there were still some fights between them, and the ribbing from Muscle Man tended to wear on them sometimes, but they were still quite in love. And so our story ends, as the park returns to normal, but with two love struck employees in their midst, nothing will ever be the same again.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this story! I'm not going to lie, I felt that this story was a little bit awkward at times, but I still liked how it turned out. Hopefully this should give me some experience to help me through writing This Empty Feeling, as well as any other romance fics I feel like doing. So anyway, I'll be seeing you guys next time when CANTfindKEYBORED takes his turn in the Fanfiction Rotation! See ya.<strong>

**RK**


	10. Story 9

Genre: Humor/Friendship

Requested By: CANTfindKEYBORED

Summary: It's a role reversal story, as Margaret, Eileen, Mordecai and Rigby are switching characters. Margaret is in love with Mordecai, but Mordecai is completely oblivious to it, while Rigby is obsessed with Eileen, but Eileen continues to ignore him.

NOTE: I just wanted to apologize for the long wait for this. I know that I've done this a lot, but I do have a good reason. The hard drive on my laptop blew out, so I had to get my computer replaced, but thankfully I have one now, so I can get back to work. Also, a more minor reason was that this request was actually pretty damn tough. I'm not going to lie; I had a bit of a problem thinking of what to do with this story. But I figured it out, so here you go.

* * *

><p>It has been incredibly slow at the coffee shop ever since there was a story on the news about the dangers of coffee drinking. Margaret and Eileen are lucky to maybe get a few customers per day, but most of the time during their shifts are spent either cleaning or sitting around bored.<p>

Thankfully Mordecai and Rigby still show up every day, so their days weren't completely dull.

Today was just as dull as all of the other days. No one was in the coffee shop, so Margaret and Eileen grabbed a couple of seats and were spending time chatting about random things. As they were talking, though, the door opened to reveal Mordecai and Rigby, on time as always.

"Hey guys!" said Margaret.

"Hey, Margaret." said Mordecai, with a friendly wave.

Ever since the news story, their greetings have usually gone this way. Margaret, though, has secretly been anxiously awaiting each of their visits, not only because of the whole 'no other customers' thing, but also because of the fact that Margaret has had a crush on Mordecai ever since they met in high school. They would have already been together, though, if it wasn't for the fact that Mordecai was completely oblivious to her subtle advances, considering Margaret cannot tell him her feelings for him straight out, thanks to her shyness around him.

Rigby, meanwhile, was an entirely different story. Before he dropped out of high school, he ran into Eileen and immediately fell in love. He was definitely not afraid to show his feelings for Eileen. It's even been his idea to go to the coffee shop each day, just so he could get a chance to spend time with Eileen. Unfortunately for him, Eileen's dismissive attitude towards Rigby was the only real wedge between them. Rigby didn't let it get to him, though, so he continued to visit undeterred.

"So, what can I get for you guys?" asked Margaret.

"Italian sub for me." said Mordecai.

"Same here." said Rigby.

"No coffees today?" asked Margaret.

"Nah, we're trying to cut down. We don't believe the news report, but I figured we might as well do it." said Mordecai.

"Well, good for you, guys. I'll be back with your order in a few minutes." said Margaret.

As promised, she went back behind the counter and prepared their food. She was about to head back to deliver it when her eyes landed on Eileen sulking in the corner, and she got a great idea.

"Say, Eileen. Would you mind delivering the guys' orders for me?"

"Why can't you do it?"

"Well, I'm sure the guys would love to see you, especially Rigby." said Margaret.

"I'd rather not have to deal with Rigby fawning all over me. Besides, I don't even like him that much."

Margaret sighed before forcibly handing the plates to Eileen.

"Come on, just give them the food and talk to them for a couple minutes. It's not as bad as you're making it out to be."

Margaret then pushed Eileen out the door before she could protest.

* * *

><p>As Eileen slowly made her way towards Mordecai and Rigby's table, the only thing that was on her mind at the moment was how she really didn't want to talk to Rigby. But if it was to keep Margaret happy, she decided it was best to bite the bullet and at least try to talk to him.<p>

She finally reached the table, and the first thing that she saw was Rigby's face, which lit up considerably when he saw her coming.

"Here's your food." said Eileen, setting them down on the table with a little more force than was needed, a fact that Mordecai ended up noticing.

"Something wrong, Eileen?"

Eileen quickly caught on, and promptly adopted her usual demeanor before they started asking questions.

"Oh, nothing. I've just had a bit of a rough day. So, how are you guys doing?"

"Pretty good, actually. Benson took it easy on us today." said Mordecai.

"Yeah, we only had to do some hedge work today. It was still a pain in the butt, but we got it done pretty quickly." said Rigby.

"Dude, you were spending the whole time complaining about how hot it was today." said Mordecai.

"STOP TALKIIIING!" yelled Rigby as he jumped up on to the table.

Both Eileen and Mordecai were giving him weird looks as he stood there fuming. It finally registered in his brain a few seconds later that he was being rude, and he promptly composed himself and sat back down.

"Sorry."

"No problem, dude." said Mordecai.

Eileen didn't reply. Instead, she excused herself and returned to the back.

* * *

><p>"Well? How was it?" asked Margaret.<p>

"It sucked. Honestly, I don't know why you think Rigby and I would work together. He's so…angry." said Eileen.

"Wait, where did you get that?"

"Weren't you watching? He jumped up on the table and started yelling after Mordecai was teasing him."

"It's not that bad, Eileen. He's actually a pretty sweet guy once you get to know him." said Margaret.

Eileen once again stayed quiet. Margaret, exasperated, decided to let her go for now.

"Listen, just give it some thought, alright?"

"I guess."

Margaret nodded, satisfied, before heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Eileen.

"I'm going to go try and ask Mordecai out. This whole conversation we've been having has put me in the mood to give it a shot."

"Wait, isn't Mordecai dating that cloud girl?"

"He is?" asked Margaret, her expression fading.

Eileen paused for a second, before suddenly remembering another detail.

"Oh wait, never mind. They broke up a few days ago. Go for it."

Margaret's cheerful expression returned as she made her way through the door.

* * *

><p>Mordecai and Rigby were busy chatting as they ate their food.<p>

"Hey, Mordecai."

Mordecai looked up and saw Margaret standing in front of him with a nervous smile on her face. Confused, he decided to ask her what was up.

"Oh, hey Margaret. What's up?"

Margaret paused, nervously scratching at the back of her head, before deciding to speak.

"Would you...uh…like to go out to dinner with me sometime?"

Mordecai's face adopted a slightly awkward look before he began to speak.

"Well, I'd like to, but…"

Before Mordecai could finish speaking, the door to the coffee shop burst open to reveal a lady wearing possibly the most garish-looking getup you can think of. Her wardrobe consisted of gold studded shoes and sunglasses, multiple pairs or gold earrings, and what appeared to be a trash bag spray painted with gold paint.

The lady walked down the steps and promptly sat down next to Mordecai.

"Hey, Ladonna!"

Ladonna didn't reply to Mordecai's greeting, instead looking around the room with a disdainful look on her face.

"You actually frequent this place? I've never seen an uglier building in my life!"

Ladonna's eyes soon fell on Margaret, and she sneered as she took the robin's look in.

"And who is this ugly tramp?"

Margaret's face flushed in anger, but before she could retort, Mordecai spoke up.

"Uh, this is Margaret. Margaret, this is Ladonna."

Ladonna held out her hand, expecting Margaret to shake it, but Margaret refused.

"Wow, and no manners? No wonder. The service here is so bottom of the barrel, I'm surprised it's not staffed by Neanderthals." said Ladonna.

"That's it! Out, now!" said Margaret, angrily pointing a finger at the door.

"Oh, did I hurt your feelings?" asked Ladonna mockingly.

"That's none of your business!" said Margaret.

As Margaret and Ladonna were arguing, Mordecai was trying his best to defuse the situation, but the two ladies were oblivious to his pleas.

Ladonna, meanwhile, was beginning to catch on that maybe there might be something going on between Margaret and Mordecai. She may not be the smartest one in the bunch, but she was quite observant, as she did catch Margaret attempting to ask Mordecai out. At first she ignored it, but as she saw the looks that Margaret gave Mordecai, it finally dawned on her.

"You like my boyfriend, don't you?"

Margaret blushed, as Mordecai looked at her, confused.

"Is this true?" he asked.

"Uhhhh…" said Margaret, unable to really tell the truth.

"Oh, just admit it. You want to steal him away from me. But you can't, because he's mine. And he doesn't want to be with a tramp, anyway. Right, Mordecai?" said Ladonna.

Those last words stung, but Margaret didn't back off. Instead, she steeled her resolve, and faced Mordecai.

"Yes, Mordecai. I love you."

She then suddenly grabbed Mordecai and kissed him right on the lips.

Caught off guard, Mordecai flailed for a bit, before finally returning the kiss.

Ladonna, fuming, separated the two, before kissing Mordecai herself.

Margaret wasn't going to have it, though. She pulled Ladonna off of Mordecai and promptly tackled her to the ground. The two ladies were rolling around, pulling at each other's hair and clawing at each other.

"Woo hoo! Catfight!" said Rigby.

Mordecai punched him in the shoulder, before diving into the pile himself, attempting to separate the two before they do any more harm to each other.

"We need some help out here, Eileen!" yelled Rigby, after realizing how stupid he was being.

Despite it being Rigby that called, Eileen rushed out to the front of the store, before she and Rigby joined the pile. Eventually, they managed to separate the two no less worse for wear, outside of a few scratches and rips in their clothes.

"Listen, you two! I need you to stay calm for now while I think about this, alright?" said Mordecai.

Both of them were busy glaring daggers at each other, but they both nodded.

Mordecai then walked off to another corner of the coffee shop for some privacy. A few minutes have passed, as the group waited for Mordecai to finish. Eventually he returned, and Ladonna and Margaret waited with bated breath to find out what he was thinking.

"So, I gave it some thought, and I realized something. I was being really stupid with all of the girlfriends I was hooking up with. Not one of them was ever nice to me, and I was completely blinded by love, which was one of the worst decisions I've made in a long time."

Mordecai looked at Ladonna as he spoke.

"So, essentially, this means that you and I are breaking up."

"Fine! See if I ever let you into The Box again!" said Ladonna. Huffing, she turned her head and promptly walked out of the coffee shop.

As soon as Ladonna left, Mordecai turned to Margaret.

"As for you, Margaret, while I wish that you would have told me earlier about your feelings before I put myself through this string of bad girlfriends, I do appreciate that you've finally told me. I didn't realize that you felt this way about me, and to be honest, I kind of do, too. So yes, I will go out to dinner with you."

"Thanks, Mordecai." said Margaret, as she hugged Mordecai tightly.

As the two lovebirds kissed, Eileen and Rigby stood off to the side, happily watching.

"So, Eileen, how would you feel about us two joining them on their little dinner date?" asked Rigby.

Eileen paused, considering the question.

"Alright, Rigby. Don't get any ideas, though. We're just going as friends, alright?"

"Fair enough."

Rigby wasn't thrilled about only going on a date as friends, but he felt that it was a step in the right direction, so he was pretty satisfied.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of the story! Once again, I wanted to apologize for the long break between chapter updates. I really don't want to be leaving you guys hanging, but sometimes real lifelaziness gets in the way, so I'm sorry. Hopefully now that I've finally gotten off my butt and gotten a chapter out means that I should be able to get back on schedule, so that'll be good news.**

**Anyway, I hope that you've enjoyed this story, and I'll see you guys next time when Luigi Rocks takes his turn in the Fanfiction Rotation! Bye!**

**RK**


	11. Story 10

Genre: Friendship/Humor

Requested By: Luigi Rocks

Summary: Mordecai and Benson switch places for the day to see what it's like in the other's shoes.

* * *

><p>It was mostly quiet around the park this morning, as the work day has already started for all of the employees. Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost were busy mowing the lawn. Skips was pruning all of the bushes. And Pops was off doing his own thing. Mordecai and Rigby, meanwhile, were busy once again getting their butts chewed out by Benson.<p>

"Unbelievable! I leave you two alone for five minutes, and you've already managed to set fire to the football field! What do I have to do to make you guys listen for once in your life?"

It turns out that the two of them were actually assigned to mow the football field, along with a few other areas of the park. But Rigby, being Rigby, decided that using the hand mowers would take too long, so he managed to somehow convince Mordecai to bring out the riding mower despite the fact that Benson told them not to after they ended up crashing it into a tree and nearly totaling the engine.

So, as they began running along the field, the engine continued to emit sparks, and it eventually caught on fire, sending even more sparks on to the ground, which set the field on fire. Thankfully, Skips was in the area and managed to put it out before it could spread further, but there was still a large area of burned grass, which Benson noticed pretty quickly.

So, he set Mordecai and Rigby to work replacing all of the dead grass with new grass seeds, as well as repainting the field, which took them the rest of the shift. They eventually returned to the house, sore and tired, before flopping down on the couch and flipping on the television.

Unfortunately, before they could fully relax, Benson came into the room, to audible groans from Mordecai and Rigby.

"What is it now, Benson?" asked Mordecai.

Benson pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to relieve a headache that was coming on, before speaking.

"Listen, you guys. I've been giving it some thought as to how I'm going to be able to deal with you guys and your troublemaking."

"Wait, you're not going to fire us, are you?" asked Rigby, slightly nervous.

"No, but if it comes to it, I might have to. Anyway, Mordecai, you and I are actually going to be switching places for the day tomorrow."

"Pfft. Like that would actually help with our 'slacking' issues." said Mordecai, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, believe me, doing my job is going to be a lot more difficult than you think it's going to be, Mordecai."

"Yeah, whatever."

"What about me? What am I going to do?" asked Rigby.

"You're going to be working with Muscle Man's mentorship program again. Apparently the last time didn't quite get through to you."

Rigby groaned once again, remembering the hell that was being harnessed to Muscle Man for an entire work shift.

"No complaining or you're fired! You got that?" asked Benson.

Both Rigby and Mordecai nodded.

"Good. I want to see you up and ready to go at 7:00 AM sharp so I can run you through some of the basics."

Both Mordecai and Rigby collapsed back on to the couch after Benson left the room.

"God, this is going to suck so hard."

"Hey, well at least you only have to do Benson's job for the day. I have to spend the day being attached to Muscle Man's sweaty fat folds!"

"Yeah, that is pretty harsh. But at least it's only for one day."

"Yeah, I guess."

Mordecai and Rigby spent the rest of the night watching TV, dreading the arrival of the following morning.

* * *

><p>Mordecai woke up the next day completely groggy-eyed, having never actually woken up at this time in the morning before. After getting ready for work, he went downstairs to find Benson already sitting at the table and enjoying a coffee and donut.<p>

"Good morning, Mordecai." said Benson.

Mordecai grunted at Benson before heading for the coffee machine and grabbing a much larger cup than he usually uses during the mornings, which he filled almost to the brim with the good stuff and chugged it down greedily, choosing to ignore the screaming pain that his mouth was going through at the moment.

"So, are you ready to go check out what needs to be done today?"

"Yeah, I guess so." said Mordecai, slightly more awake.

Benson and Mordecai headed out the back door and jumped into one of the carts and zoomed off.

"Make sure to be taking notes of the jobs that need done today as we pass by them. There is a clipboard, as well as some pencils and paper in the glove compartment." said Benson.

Mordecai reached over to the glove compartment, and found the materials. So, as the time rolled on, Mordecai and Benson went around the entirety of the park, getting out every so often checking on different things to verify whether they would need to be done.

* * *

><p>Eventually, the rest of the employees were sitting on the front steps for the morning meeting, including Benson, who took Mordecai's usual spot. Mordecai, meanwhile, was standing in front of the group, slightly nervous, but still confident that he can prove to Benson how easy his job was.<p>

"Alright, you guys. Listen up!"

None of the group apparently heard him, though, as they continued to talk to each other. Exasperated, Mordecai placed two fingers into his beak and whistled loudly, this time catching their attention and silencing them all.

"Alright, here are the jobs for today. Muscle Man and Rigby, you two are going to have to clean all of the graffiti around the public restrooms, as well as the restrooms themselves. Apparently the graffiti looks like Park Avenue's doing, so you're going to have to kick him out as well. Benson and High-Five Ghost, you two are going grocery shopping. Once you get back, though, I need you guys to organize the meat locker. All of the cavemen inside there are making it kind of difficult to move around, so we need to move the important stuff into an easier place to get to. As for Pops and Thomas, the windows need cleaned, so I would probably want to get on that."

Mordecai paused, thinking that everyone would be breaking up into their groups, but no one moved.

"Come on you guys, let's go! We're burning daylight here!" Mordecai yelled.

The group reluctantly did as they were asked and separated. Mordecai, meanwhile, began clutching at the bridge of his beak, trying to relieve a headache that was coming on.

So, as the day went on, Mordecai spent his shift driving around the park in one of the carts, checking up on each of the groups as they did their work.

First off, he went to the restrooms and found Rigby and Muscle Man furiously scrubbing at a large patch of graffiti on the outside wall. Muscle Man was in fact wearing the mentorship harness, but Rigby apparently wasn't in it. He asked Muscle Man about it, and was told that Rigby was going through what he called the Intermediate Course, which doesn't involve the harness, but he decided to keep it on him as a warning for the raccoon.

"Wow, I'm impressed, Muscle Man. I didn't expect that you'd be able to keep Rigby in line like that."

Rigby rolled his eyes as he continued working, but thankfully neither of them noticed.

Satisfied, Mordecai left and made his way back to the house. He spent the next few hours doing paperwork in Benson's office, which ended up being one of the more painful parts of the day, as Benson had a large stack of paperwork that needed to be done, including taxes and other important documents. Mordecai, having only high school to go on when it came to doing math, had a bit of a tough time doing the taxes, but he managed to get through it alright.

Finally finished, he went out again to check on Benson and High-Five Ghost, who by that point in the day has returned from the store with the groceries and put them away. They were now in the meat locker and were currently moving the meat products towards the front of the area.

"So, how's the job going so far?" asked Benson.

"Alright, actually. Everyone's doing their work as asked, and Muscle Man's got Rigby working hard, which I'm not going to lie was pretty great to see."

Benson was noticeably surprised to see Mordecai's change in attitude.

"I'm impressed, Mordecai. Whenever I thought up of this switching jobs business, I never thought you would actually be taking this job seriously. But I've noticed that you can be a really hard worker when you want to be. I really wish that you could be like this more often, though."

"Sorry about that, Benson. I guess Rigby kind of rubs off on me sometimes."

Benson shrugged, deciding not to worry about that issue quite yet.

"I'd better go check up on Pops and Thomas. I'll see you later, Benson!"

Mordecai did just that a few minutes later to find all of the windows in the house sparkling as if they were new. He let out an appreciative whistle, before shouting up to Pops, who was currently on one of the tall ladders, cleaning one of the higher up windows. Thomas, meanwhile, was working on one of the downstairs windows.

"Great job, you guys!" he said, punctuating it with a thumbs up.

"Why thank you, Mordecai!"

"Yeah, thanks Mordecai!"

The rest of the work shift went by pretty smoothly, with Mordecai checking up on each of the groups every so often, and spending the time in between doing some of the minor jobs that needed done.

* * *

><p>Once the shift ended, Mordecai went back to the house, and was about to flop back down onto the couch next to Rigby, who was already sitting there, only to be interrupted by Benson in the kitchen.<p>

"Oh, hey Benson."

"So, what did you think about my job? Was it as easy as you thought it was last night?"

"Well, it definitely wasn't easy, I can tell you that. I would like to apologize, though, for the way I was yesterday. I didn't realize how tough you actually had it being the manager here. Now that I've experienced it for myself, I'm kind of lucky to only have to worry about doing what you say. Having to manage six different people at once is hard work."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. Good job, Mordecai."

Satisified, Mordecai went into the living room and flopped down onto the couch next to Rigby.

"So, how was Muscle Man?"

"Painful. Muscle Man had me working almost non-stop. My back is killing me right now."

Rigby arched back, cracking his back as if to punctuate his last sentence.

"Dude, that is pretty harsh."

"Well, at least we made it through the day. Hopefully things will go back to normal tomorrow."

"Yeah, I hope so."

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this story! Yeah, as you can probably tell, updates are probably going to be a little slow in terms of this story. I have mentioned before that my focus is going to be on Breaking Point and This Empty Feeling as I try to finish those stories up, but I will do some requests on here when I feel like doing them, so don't think that I'm leaving you guys in the dust with the Rotation. I'll also be doing some more separate oneshots as well, so keep an eye out for those.<strong>

**Anyway, I hope you guys have enjoyed this story, and I will see you guys next time (whenever that is) when FortuneAly takes her turn in the Fanfiction Rotation. See ya!**

**RK**


	12. Story 11

Genre: Friendship/Tragedy

Requested By: marcelinefan

Summary: After a near-death experience, Benson realizes that spending time as a grumpy old man was a waste, and he changes his ways, becoming a nicer person. Everyone gets annoyed by this, though, and they try to get him to go back to his old self.

NOTE: Yeah, I know, I'm breaking the rules a bit. I decided to be nice, though, and do her's now, just because she most likely won't stop bothering me about it until I do it. But this will only happen once, so don't get any ideas! It's first come, first serve, so you guys need to be patient. Especially with the work load I have. (Sorry, FortuneAly! You'll be next story. I promise.)

* * *

><p>It was a normal day at the park, as it always has been. Everyone was busy doing their assigned jobs for the day, but our focus for this story is once again on Mordecai and Rigby, who ended up being assigned to clean the gutters on the roof of the house. Once again, Rigby got the easier end of the bargain after winning another game of rock paper scissors. He got to hold the hose and wear the gloves, while Mordecai ended up getting stuck digging his way through the muck. Mordecai gave a slight shiver, as a wave of nausea hit him due to the smell emanating from the leaves and gunk in the gutters.<p>

"Ugh. Dude, this is so gross. Why can't you just let me have the gloves for once?"

"Hey, I don't want to get my hands dirty going through all that stuff." said Rigby, pointing with his shoulder towards the pile of leaves that Mordecai was sifting through.

"Dude, you've barely even touched the leaves! All you've done is stand there with that hose doing nothing important."

"I've sprayed the gutters a few times!" said Rigby defensively.

Mordecai paused for a few seconds registering what Rigby said, before he reacted.

"Give me those gloves!"

He rushed over and tried to pry the gloves off of Rigby's hands, but the raccoon wasn't going to give in so easily. He sprayed the hose towards Mordecai, attempting to ward him off, but unfortunately it didn't work. Rigby eventually was forced to fold his arms against his chest, trying to prevent Mordecai from taking the gloves.

As they continued to fight, Benson pulled up to the house and looked up, noticing the two groundskeepers not doing their jobs. His face turned red out of anger, but he decided not to waste his time trying to yell at them from the ground, because he most likely wouldn't be heard all that well. Instead, he stomped into the house and made his way upstairs and into Mordecai and Rigby's room. He opened the window and stuck his head out.

"Mordecai! Rigby!"

They were too absorbed in their fight to notice Benson calling for them, so he was forced to step on to the roof and head towards them so he could get their attention. However, in an incredibly unlucky moment, Benson ended up stepping on a loose shingle, and it ended up slipping out from under him, sending Benson crashing down on to the roof itself. Unable to stop his momentum, Benson ended up rolling off of the roof and crashed down hard on to the ground. The loud crash ended up getting Mordecai and Rigby's attention, and they looked over the side of the roof to find their boss on the ground, supposedly unconscious. Both Mordecai and Rigby began to freak out.

"Oh crap, we're so dead!" said Rigby.

Mordecai chose not to reply, instead rushing back to the window and climbing through, Rigby following close behind. They made their way back downstairs as quickly as they could and sped back outside to find Benson still lying on the ground, with a large crack on the back of his glass dome, and a few gumballs lying off to the side.

"What do we do?" asked Rigby.

"We need to go get Skips." said Mordecai.

"But what if he starts asking questions? He'll know it's our faults this happened!"

"Then just make something up." said Mordecai.

Rigby began fretting trying to think of a way to explain Benson's state to Skips without incriminating themselves while Mordecai went off to find the yeti.

* * *

><p>Mordecai eventually returned with Skips in tow.<p>

"What the heck happened here?"

Rigby waffled around for a bit, unable to figure out a way to tell Skips an excuse. Skips raised an eyebrow questioningly, but he decided not to press the issue, wanting to get Benson to a hospital as quickly as possible.

"Grab Benson and follow me!"

Mordecai and Rigby did as they were asked and carefully picked Benson up along with the stray gumballs. They eventually made their way back to Skips's house, and the yeti disappeared into the garage for a moment. A few seconds later, the garage door opened, revealing his van, which Mordecai and Rigby immediately loaded Benson into and buckled him in, before Skips drove off towards the hospital.

As Skips disappeared over the horizon, Mordecai turned towards Rigby and punched him in the arm.

"Oww! What was that for?"

"Nice going, dude. Now Skips is suspicious of us, thanks to your lame excuse."

Rigby looked off into the distance as he rubbed at his sore arm, sighing as he wondered whether he would still be alive, let alone be still employed whenever Benson recovers.

* * *

><p>A few weeks passed as Benson recovered in the hospital. The doctor told Benson that he had a slight case of amnesia from the concussion he received due to the impact, which the gumball machine was admittedly a little curious about, as he didn't realize anything was wrong with him. So, he asked the doctor about it, and he said that most people wouldn't be able to remember any specific details about things that happened to him, just what happened in general.<p>

Also, his time spent there allowed him a chance to really think about things, and he began to reconsider the decisions he made in his life. Being the hot-headed gumball machine he always has been has only led to more trouble than he wanted in his whole life, and if it wasn't for the quick work of the doctors, he probably would have died after falling off of the roof.

So, as the day came when Benson was allowed to be released from the hospital, he promised himself that he would change his attitude and start treating his employees with more respect.

After filling out all of the paperwork, Benson walked outside the hospital with a smile on his face to find Skips waiting for him while standing next to one of the carts.

"Hey, Skips. Glad to see you're here."

Skips paused before replying, noticing Benson's new demeanor.

"You seem chipper today."

"Yeah, I've decided that it wasn't worth it being the way I was all this time. So, as of now I'm going to start treating everyone a little bit nicer."

"Oookay." said Skips.

Skips and Benson both climbed into the cart and drove off, returning to the park.

* * *

><p>A few more weeks have passed since Benson returned to work with his new attitude. At first, most everyone liked it, especially Mordecai and Rigby. Benson was actually a little more lenient with those two, so their workload was usually a little bit lighter than normal, a fact that Mordecai and Rigby were really happy for.<p>

But as time went on, Benson became even more cheerful, to the point where it was starting to get a little weird for everyone there.

Mordecai and Rigby were on the couch playing their usual video games when Mordecai decided to speak up.

"Hey, Rigby? Isn't Benson starting to act a little too nice to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he constantly has a smile plastered on his face, and he only has nice things to say about everyone." said Mordecai.

Rigby looked at him, confused.

"Well, what's wrong with that?"

"Don't you think it's starting to get a little creepy?"

"Heck yeah it is!" said a voice coming from inside the kitchen. Said voice turned out to be Muscle Man, who had just walked into the kitchen, when he heard Mordecai and Rigby's conversation.

"I don't really know why I'm saying this, but I miss the old Benson." said High Five Ghost, who was floating along beside Muscle Man.

Mordecai nodded, agreeing with Fives.

"We need to figure out a way to get the old Benson back before we all go insane."

"Hey, whoa! What's wrong with the new Benson? He's actually treating all of us a lot better!" said Rigby.

"Oh, come on Rigby. You only like the new Benson because he gives you less work." said Muscle Man.

Rigby looked downcast for a second, before finally agreeing that new Benson needed to go.

"Alright, you guys, we need to figure out a way to get Benson back to his old self. Anyone have any ideas?" asked Mordecai.

Mordecai took the next few minutes fielding ideas from the rest of the group before beginning to speak again.

"Alright, you guys. Remember that Operation: Get Old Benson Back starts tomorrow morning. Someone needs to let Pops and Skips know, and see if they're up to help."

The group finally broke up, and went their separate ways for the day, hoping that they can pull off what they're planning on for Benson.

* * *

><p>Pops and Skips were also quite annoyed at Benson's new demeanor as well, so it didn't take much for them to join the operation, so the next day came and the group didn't waste any time causing trouble. They loudly talked with each other while Benson attempted to assign jobs, barely did any work, and generally ignored everything Benson tried to get them to do.<p>

Benson noticeably twitched a few times, but he usually returned to his giddy self a few seconds later, rendering the whole plan a complete failure.

So the group returned to the house after the work day ended, unable to think of any other possibilities to help fix Benson.

They sat in silence for the next few minutes, nobody saying a word, before an idea suddenly popped into Mordecai's head.

"We need to tell Benson the truth about when he fell off of the roof, Rigby."

Rigby's eyes widened in shock.

"Are you crazy, Mordecai? This is going to cost us both of our jobs! Heck, I would be surprised if he doesn't kill us for it."

"Wait, hold on, you guys. What did you guys do to Benson?" asked Skips, curious.

"I don't know for sure. Rigby and I were fighting, and Benson apparently came up to the roof to yell at us. I don't know exactly how he fell, but we didn't even touch him!" said Mordecai, scrunching his face together as he prepared for the worst. The worst didn't come, though, as Skips sighed.

"Benson's really not going to be happy to hear this. But desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. We'll try our best to cover for you guys, but don't expect a miracle."

Mordecai and Rigby both gave Skips a worried look, before the yeti went off to find Benson.

A few minutes later, Skips returned with Benson in tow, the gumball machine with a curious look on his face.

"What's going on, you guys?"

Skips didn't say anything, instead gesturing towards Mordecai and Rigby who both stood up to face Benson.

"Benson, Rigby and I have a confession to make. We may be sort of indirectly responsible for sending you to the hospital a while back."

Benson was admittedly a little confused after hearing this.

"Wait, what?"

"We were fighting and you somehow managed to fall off of the roof while you were trying to yell at us." said Rigby.

Benson paused while he racked his brain trying to remember the details of the incident. Suddenly it popped into his head, and his gumballs went red with rage.

"You did what?!"

"We're sorry, Benson! We didn't mean to get you hurt!" said Rigby, his eyes closed as he anxiously awaited Benson's reaction.

"That's it! I have had it with you two! You guys have been nothing but trouble, and now I hear that you guys almost killed me! You two are f-"

Benson couldn't get his last word out, as the door suddenly flew open to reveal Pops, who snuck outside a few minutes ago without anyone noticing to get some fresh air.

"I think I found something important!"

Pops had in his hand the loose shingle, which somehow managed to evade being noticed for months by any one of the guys until now. Pops went into a short explanation into how he found it. Apparently, the loose shingle landed on the ground and disappeared under the steps, which is why no one's ever found it, but by a sheer stroke of luck, Pops just happened to look under the steps and saw the shingle there.

Skips paused for a moment, trying to think of what really happened. Eventually, he figured it out and turned towards Benson.

"I think I know what really happened. The roof was probably due for some work pretty soon after that day, so a lot of shingles were probably beginning to come loose. Apparently you must have stepped on one of the really loose ones, and it finally gave way, sending you down with it. So, Mordecai and Rigby weren't directly responsible for the incident."

Benson paused, pinching his nose while he attempted to calm down and think a little more rationally. Eventually he figured that Skips was right, so he turned towards Mordecai and Rigby, who each gulped in response.

"Look, I'm sorry for completely blaming you for me falling off the roof. I should have called earlier to get that damn thing repaired. So that was my fault. However, since your goofing off was what put me up there in the first place, I'm not going to let you guys off so easy. You guys both have bathroom duty for the next three months, as well as all of your normal jobs. And I want to see all of the bathrooms sparkling clean every time you do it, or you guys are fired! You got that?"

Mordecai and Rigby both nodded furiously, before sighing knowing that their jobs and lives were safe for now.

"So does this mean that you're back to your old self?" asked Rigby, who immediately shrunk away from the furious stare that Benson gave him, which was meant to be a non-verbal answer to his question.

So, things eventually returned to normal. Benson was back to his old self, everyone got their original workloads back, and Mordecai and Rigby spent the next three months scrubbing the bathrooms like there was no tomorrow.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this story! So, yeah, as I have mentioned, this is the only exception to the rules I will be making, so any PM's asking for their story to get done will be promptly denied and deleted. Sorry guys, but rules are rules, and I don't really want to break them again.<strong>

**Anyway, I hope you guys have enjoyed this little story and next time we will see FortuneAly finally take her turn in the Fanfiction Rotation. Bye!**

**RK**


	13. Story 12

Genre: Hurt/Comfort

Requested By: FortuneAly

Summary: Eileen's trying to deal with the pain after someone bullies her for her looks, and she gets help from an unexpected source. RigbyXEileen fluff ahoy!

* * *

><p>It was a relatively slow day at the coffee shop, as there were only a few customers inside when Mordecai and Rigby came in for their usual visit to find Margaret standing behind the counter.<p>

"Hey guys!"

"Hey, Margaret." said Mordecai.

As Margaret came over from behind the counter to meet them, Mordecai noticed something was missing.

"Where's Eileen? She's usually here with you when we come in."

"I don't know, actually. She hasn't come in to work yet, and she hasn't answered when I tried to call her a few times."

Mordecai was about to suggest rounding up a small search party to find where Eileen went, when the mole girl burst in through the front door in tears. Her work uniform was disheveled and her glasses were slightly askew. Margaret immediately went over to Eileen, sensing there was a problem.

"Oh my god. Eileen, what happened?"

Through sniffling, Eileen recounted her story.

"There were these two guys who I ran into on the way to work today. I was running a little late, so I tried to ignore them and pass by, but they got in my way. Then they started calling me names, like shrimp, four-eyes, and other names I don't really want to mention. At that point, I was about ready to cry, but I kept it in as best as I could and tried to slip by them. But then they pushed me down to the ground and stole my wallet!"

Margaret gasped, before immediately putting her arms around Eileen, giving her a nice hug.

"Oh, Eileen. I'm so sorry that this had to happen to you."

"Yeah, Eileen. It's not fair that there are people like that who bully just because someone isn't good looking." said Mordecai.

"Thanks, guys." said Eileen, giving a small smile.

As Eileen continued to recover from her sobbing fit, Mordecai and Margaret then gave Rigby a questioning look.

"What?" asked Rigby.

"Don't you have anything to say, Rigby?" asked Mordecai.

"Ugh, fine. I'm sorry that you're not as good looking as some other people, Eileen."

Eileen's eyes widened as she heard what Rigby said, before she immediately burst into tears once again and rushed off into the back room.

Mordecai punched Rigby in the arm as hard as he could.

"Rigby, you idiot! I can't believe you would say something like that."

"Yeah Rigby, that was mean!" said Margaret.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Go apologize right now! And I don't want to see you come out of that backroom before you give Eileen one heck of an apology." said Mordecai, pointing towards the back of the store.

Rigby sighed, knowing that Mordecai would probably end up hating him forever if he didn't go apologize to Eileen, so he turned around and made his way towards the backroom, ducking under the divider separating the two areas.

* * *

><p>Rigby spent the next few minutes searching through the back of the coffee shop, which was somehow larger than it appeared to be from the front of the store. Eventually, he heard sniffling coming from one of the rooms and followed the sound to find Eileen sitting in the locker room, still crying.<p>

"Eileen?" Rigby called out timidly.

"What do you want?" asked Eileen, turning around and giving Rigby the meanest look she could muster.

Rigby admittedly was prepared to say he was sorry and leave it there, but a feeling of guilt began to gnaw in his stomach, and he knew he was going to have to do better if he wanted to get back in the good graces of not only Mordecai and Margaret, but also Eileen.

Rigby walked over to the mole girl and attempted to put one of his hands on her shoulder, but she immediately recoiled from the contact, jerking her shoulder away. At that point, Rigby was beginning to kick himself mentally, finally realizing he was being extremely stupid for pulling a stunt like he did not too long ago.

"Listen Eileen, I just wanted to apologize for being such a jerk back there. I really shouldn't have said what I told you back there. It was really stupid of me. So, would you be willing to forgive me?"

As Eileen considered her options, Rigby continued to look at her with a completely nervous look on his face. Eventually, she made her decision and turned back towards Rigby.

"Alright, I'll forgive you. On one condition."

"What would that be?"

"I want you to show me how I can stand up to people like those guys I ran into in town."

"Oh…um…I guess I could probably do that."

Rigby gulped, not quite knowing what to do, considering he couldn't really remember any time when he had to stand up for himself, so he decided just to wing it and see what happens. He sat down on one of the chairs next to Eileen, and began throwing out advice.

"Well, the first thing you need to remember when faced with a situation like this is to not let it get to you. I've known you for years, and you're one of the strongest-willed girls I've ever seen in my life. The only reason you should ever care about what you look like is if you ever decide to go into acting. And believe me, you shouldn't. Those guys are cutthroat."

Eileen listened intently as Rigby continued giving out some words of wisdom.

"Also, if you're faced with someone like those jerks you met on the way here, the important thing to remember is to ignore them. Don't let any words get through, where they can easily fester and make you feel worse. Oh, and keep eye contact with them. Looking down at the ground tells them that their words are affecting you, and it'll just get worse. So don't do that, alright?"

Eileen nodded, understanding.

"There's one last thing to keep in mind when faced with something like this. Try to make an effort not to be alone when you're going through town. It gets easier to face someone when you have a friend or acquaintance to help you through the ordeal. But if you do go somewhere by yourself, stay in areas where there are other people around. There's no guarantee that they'll actually help, but you do have a better chance at getting some help when people can see what's going on."

Rigby finally fell silent, having spent the last fifteen minutes spouting out random bits of advice that popped into his head. As Rigby continued to think about it, he kind of felt a little good knowing that even though he doesn't remember ever being bullied himself, he at least knows that he would be able to help someone with that problem if needed.

"So, what do you think, Eileen? Is that some good advice?"

"Yeah, it actually is. I'm surprised I never thought about things like that before."

Eileen then reached over and gave Rigby a big hug. The raccoon tensed up a bit at first, but then he relaxed a few seconds later and smiled as he returned the hug.

"Ready to go head back out?"

"Just give me a minute to clean up, and I'll join you." said Eileen.

"Alright, let me know when you're ready."

Eileen smiled in response, before she turned around and began attempting to compose herself.

* * *

><p>Rigby and Eileen returned to the front of the coffee shop a few minutes later to find it completely empty except for Mordecai and Margaret, who were sitting down at the usual table talking with each other. The two of them eventually caught Mordecai's eye, as him and Margaret turned to greet them.<p>

"So, how'd it go back there?" asked Mordecai.

"Pretty good, actually. Rigby gave me a lot of advice on how to stand up to people like those guys before." said Eileen.

"Well, I'm impressed. This is different coming from someone like you, Rigby." said Mordecai.

"STOP TALKIIIINNNGG!" yelled Rigby, not wanting to give up the hit to his pride.

"Calm down, dude. I was just joking." said Mordecai defensively.

"Well anyway, I'm glad to see that you two have made up. And I hope that you've learned something from this, Rigby." said Margaret.

"Yeah, I know. Think before you speak." said Rigby, rolling his eyes in a joking manner.

The rest of the group couldn't resist, as they all burst out in laughter knowing that things are okay, and something good has come out of this whole mess.

* * *

><p>Eileen was walking to work the next day, when suddenly, the two jerks from yesterday popped out from the same alley as last time.<p>

"Well, look who we have here. Four-eyes is back for a little more punishment." said Jerk #1.

"I guess the only thing we can do is give her what she wants, then." said Jerk #2.

The two jerks then launched into a tirade, calling her every name under the sun, but Eileen did not flinch once, keeping eye contact with the two jerks the whole time.

"What? Why isn't this working?" asked Jerk #2.

"Screw it, let's just work her over." said Jerk #1.

As the two jerks began making their way over to Eileen to take care of business, suddenly someone yelled out of nowhere.

"Hey, you'd better get away from her!"

The two jerks paused as they looked to see who was interrupting their business, which gave Eileen a chance to look over herself and find Mordecai and Rigby currently crossing the street with angry looks on their faces. Rigby was the one who yelled out and was currently on all fours, rushing towards the jerks, while Mordecai brought up the rear.

Once Rigby reached the nearest jerk, he sprang up and sank his teeth into the guy's arm. The jerk began flailing his arm wildly around as he screamed in pain, but Rigby held on as best as he could.

Meanwhile, Mordecai reached the other jerk and immediately socked him in the face. Thankfully that was all that was needed, as the jerk ran off, the other one following close behind once Rigby decided to let him go.

"Thanks, you guys." said Eileen.

"No problem. But you were great, Eileen! You didn't back down an inch from those two guys." said Mordecai.

"Wait, were you guys watching me?"

"Well, yeah. Mordecai and I wanted to see how you would do taking my advice, and you did wonderfully. Oh, and we also didn't want you to have to go through getting roughed up like that again, so we decided to step in there." said Rigby.

Eileen stared at Rigby for a few seconds (slightly weirding the raccoon out a bit), before she immediately hugged him again. This time, though, Rigby didn't flinch. Instead, he gladly returned the hug and began patting her on the back.

"Don't you think that you should be getting to work soon, Eileen?" asked Mordecai.

"Oh yeah, you're right!"

Eileen broke the hug and rushed off, waving back towards the two groundskeepers.

"I'll see you guys later!"

Both Mordecai and Rigby waved back, the latter with a smile on his face as the good feeling from helping Eileen out still remained in his gut.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the story! Hope you guys have enjoyed it, especially FortuneAly, now that I've finally gotten to it. So anyway, I don't really have anything important to say, so I'll just sign off and say that I hope to see you guys next time when "A person" takes his or her turn on the Fanfiction Rotation! Bye.<strong>

**RK**


	14. Story 13

Genre: Comedy

Requested By: (No name given)

Summary: Mordecai, Rigby, and some others spend the night playing truth or dare out of boredom. The dares end up getting more ridiculous and personal space invading as the game goes on.

* * *

><p>It was a hot day at the park today. Twin Peaks was in the middle of a day long heat wave, and Benson decided to give everyone the day off, because even he wanted to be inside, where at least it wasn't as hot.<p>

So, everyone was now piled into the living room of the house, surrounded by as many fans as they could find with all of the windows open. Even then, the temperature pretty much overrode any attempt they made to cool down.

Finally having had enough of the heat, Rigby snapped and growled loudly.

"I can't take it anymore! All this heat is going to drive me nuts!"

"Dude, calm down. Yelling at the heat isn't going to make it go away." said Mordecai.

"I know that. I just need something to take my mind off of the heat before I go insane." said Rigby pleadingly.

Mordecai paused, considering Rigby's predicament.

"You know, we could all use something to take our minds off of the heat wave. What do you guys think?"

Everyone nodded and voiced their agreements before Mordecai continued.

"So, any ideas?"

"Ooh, how about charades? I love charades!" said Pops, adding a giggle.

"Alright, who wants charades?" asked Mordecai. Only Skips, Pops, and Benson raised their hands.

"We could play I Spy."

"Uh, no offense Thomas, but I'd like to play a game that at least involves some movement." said Rigby.

The group fell silent as they all tried to think of something they could play.

"How about we play some Truth or Dare?"

Everyone looked around to see who gave out that suggestion. Turns out it was Muscle Man, who had a snide grin on his face.

"Sounds fun. Who's up for Truth or Dare?" asked Benson.

Everyone raised their hands.

"Majority rules. Let's play!" said Mordecai.

Everyone moved from where they were sitting so they were all in a circle. Before they could actually begin, Rigby stood back up and headed outside. A few seconds later, he returned holding eight pieces of grass in his hand.

"We're going to draw straws. Shortest one gets first dibs on choosing their victim. You guys understand?"

Everyone nodded once again before picking their straws and revealing them to each other. The shortest straw went to High-Five Ghost, so he got to pick first. As he looked around the group, everyone was looking at Fives nervously, either anxiously awaiting for him to pick or giving Fives subtle hints to pick someone else besides them.

"Benson. Truth or Dare?"

Benson jumped a bit, not expecting to be picked first.

"Uh…let's go with truth."

"Okay Benson, is there someone that you have a crush on?" asked Fives.

Everyone oohed as they awaited Benson's answer, even though Mordecai and Rigby were already aware of the identity of Benson's crush.

"Well, there's this woman named Audrey that I really like. She lives in the apartment across from mine, and she actually gave me her number once!"

"Benson's a hit with the ladies!" said Muscle Man as everyone except for Skips and Pops catcalled.

"Alright, so I guess it's my turn now. How about you, Mordecai? Truth or dare?" asked Benson.

"Oh, it's my turn? I think I'll also go truth."

"Okay. So, I can understand Rigby working here considering he dropped out of high school, but why did you decide to work here even though you have an art degree?"

"Hey!" said Rigby, insulted. Everyone ignored his outburst, though.

"Well, I guess it's because I didn't want to leave Rigby behind." said Mordecai.

"You guess? Because I seem to remember you saying a lot more than that during your interview before you started here. Now tell the whole truth, or you're going to have to take an automatic dare."

"Alright, fine. I've never really seen eye to eye with my dad. He thought Rigby was a bad influence on me, and he wanted me to cut off all ties with him after he dropped out. I was being stupid at first, thinking that he was telling the truth, but once I finished my degree, I realized that he was full of crap, so I found Rigby and we haven't been apart since. Besides, artists are kind of jerks." said Mordecai.

"So is that why we've never met any of your family members, Mordecai?" asked Skips.

"Yeah, mostly. My mom never really paid attention to me, considering her and my dad were always fighting, and I never really liked my sister all that much, so that's why I never bothered calling them."

"Wow, that sucks, dude." said Rigby.

"Yeah, I know. But let's not worry about this too much, and get on with the game. Thomas, truth or dare?" asked Mordecai.

"Let's change things up a bit. I'll go dare!" said Thomas.

"Okay, so I dare you to call your mom and tell her that someone defaced your car."

"But she's going to kill me!"

"You can explain things to her once we're done with the game, but for now you have to do this dare." said Mordecai.

"Oh man, this is going to suck."

Thomas pulled out his cellphone and dialed his mom's number.

"Hey, mom. Yeah, I'm fine. Hey listen, I don't think you're gonna like hearing this, but some guys decided it would be funny to spray paint my car and smash a few windows."

As everyone watched, Thomas pulled the phone away from his ear as his mom began yelling really loudly.

"Listen, mom. We'll talk about this later, okay? Goodbye!"

Thomas then hung up the phone and put it back into his pocket.

"Wow, I'm impressed, Thomas. I didn't think you could pull it off." said Mordecai.

"Thanks, guys. I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do once I get home, though."

"Don't worry about it, dude. Once she sees the car is fine, and you explain what happened, I'm sure she'll understand." said Rigby.

"I hope so. Alright, so it looks like I'm next to pick." said Thomas.

* * *

><p>As the day went on, the guys continued playing Truth or Dare, with everything suddenly becoming much raunchier. Pops ended up having to spin around on his head like he was breakdancing. Mordecai had to act like a real blue jay in front of some of the people who still came to the park in the heat. Muscle Man had to call his brother John and make fun of his mom. Skips ended up having to moon the Guardians of Youth and take a picture of their reactions. Thomas also ended up having to strip down to his underwear as well. Only Fives really was able to get out of some of the dirtier dares, as no one could really think of anything to do with him.<p>

The big thing that tended to happen, though, was a lot of kissing. One example of said kissing happened to end up being during Muscle Man's turn for picking.

"Alright, Rigbaby, truth or dare?"

The reason Muscle Man called Rigby Rigbaby was to rile the raccoon up, as he so far has only been choosing truth during his turns.

"You want me to go? Fine! I choose dare!" said Rigby, smugly crossing his arms.

"Alright, this one's going to be good. I dare you to kiss Thomas on the mouth for ten seconds straight. And I want it to be convincing, or you're going to be doing something embarrassing in public!"

"Hey, why does it have to be me?" asked Thomas.

"Well, you are in your underwear right now. What better time for something like this?"

Rigby and Thomas both glanced at each other, before turning away in disgust. Eventually, they both managed to work up the courage and slowly moved closer to each other, eventually locking lips.

Even though Rigby was thoroughly disgusted, he knew he had to make it convincing, so he wrapped his arms around Thomas and took the lead, going to town until the ten seconds finally elapsed and the two of them shot apart as quickly as humanly possible.

"Damn, dude. You almost looked like you were enjoying it." said Mordecai jokingly.

"Shut up!" yelled Rigby, as Thomas took the chance to put his clothes back on.

"Dude, I was just joking. I know you're as straight as an arrow."

"Alright, funny man, I'm picking you. Truth or dare?"

"Truth. Lay it on me, dude." said Mordecai, beckoning for Rigby to give him something good.

"Have you ever had a wet dream about Margaret? And tell us about it if you have."

Mordecai blanched, not expecting something this personal to come out during the game.

"Hey, if you don't want to tell us, that's fine. I'm just going to have to think of a really embarrassing dare for you to do in town to compensate." said Rigby.

"Alright, alright, fine. Yes, I did have a wet dream about her once. I don't remember the exact details, but I'll tell you what I know."

And so, Mordecai launched into a somewhat detailed explanation of a dream he had a few weeks ago about Margaret. Of course, they're way too dirty for me to reprint, so you're going to have to imagine what that was like. But please don't, for the love of god.

Anyway, after Mordecai finished his story, the room was suddenly infused with an air of awkwardness.

"Alright, I think it's about time that we stop the game here. Even though it ended kind of strangely, I had fun. How about you guys?" asked Benson.

Everyone nodded their approval, as Benson decided to turn on the TV.

The news just happened to be on at that moment, and the weather was the story that they were currently on. The news casters were reporting that the heat wave appeared to be over, before turning it over to the meteorologist, who mentioned that the temperature has dropped to normal summer levels.

After hearing the great news of the end of the heat wave, everyone began celebrating, about to head back to their homes, before Benson stopped all of them.

"Hey, where do you all think you're going? None of you are leaving until all of the fans are put back where you found them, okay? And if I see one fan still here, whoever found it is fired, you got that?"

With none of them wishing to incur Benson's wrath, they all banded together and grabbed as many of the fans as they could carry before returning them to their original spots. It took a little while, due to the number of fans, but they eventually completed their task, returning to their homes, as well as returning to a sense of normalcy, or at least as normal as it can get around here.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this story! I honestly didn't expect it, but this actually turned out to be a little tougher to pull off than I thought it would. Who knew it would be difficult to think of increasingly raunchy daresquestions for people like these guys?**

**Anyway, I think that's all I really need to say, so I'll see you guys next time when it's BigSlayerGuyMan's turn on the Fanfiction Rotation. Bye!**

**RK**


	15. Story 14

Genre: Friendship

Requested By: BigSlayerGuyMan

Summary: Margaret and Eileen go on a shopping spree to prepare for their dates tonight.

NOTE: The date itself will not be featured, considering this is meant to be a MargaretxEileen fluff story, but it'll be Mordecai and Rigby, just so you guys can have your fantasies.

* * *

><p>It was a busy day at the Two Peaks mall, as people were walking around all of the stores and shopping for everything that they need. Two of the patrons at the mall that day were Margaret and Eileen, who were currently sitting at one of the tables in the food court.<p>

"Alright, Eileen, since it's packed here today, I think we should probably have an idea of where we want to go so we have enough time to get ready for our dates tonight." said Margaret.

"Oh, come on, Margaret. I'm sure Mordecai and Rigby won't mind." said Eileen.

"Yeah, I know, but I'd prefer to at least look nice. That restaurant we've decided on has pretty high standards."

"Fair enough. Where do you want to go first?"

"Well, I think we should go get our dresses first, so we have something to match things with. Then we'll go from there through the rest of the outfit and makeup and everything." said Margaret.

"I like the way you think. Let's get started."

Both Margaret and Eileen nodded to each other and got out of their seats before heading off to the department store.

* * *

><p>The crowds were getting pretty thick at this point, so Margaret and Eileen had to wade their way through to reach the department store. Eventually they did end up making it in and they made their way up the escalator to the women's department and into the area where the dresses were kept.<p>

As Margaret and Eileen searched through the racks to find a good dress, Margaret could hear disappointed noises coming from the other side of the rack where Eileen was currently at.

"Eileen? What's wrong?"

"I've looked through a bunch of different racks and I can't find anything in my size."

Margaret began thinking for a moment, attempting to figure out a way to get around the problem. Eileen was definitely a little on the short side, so she did agree with the fact that it would be difficult to find a dress in her size. Still, she didn't want to let her friend down.

"I'll help you find a dress in your size, Eileen."

Eileen smiled and thanked Margaret before they both went to work.

The next few minutes were spent in silence between them as they concentrated on trying to find a dress for Eileen.

"I found one!" said Margaret.

"Really? That's awesome, Margaret!"

Eileen hurried over to where Margaret was standing and saw her holding out a simple-looking dark green dress.

"What do you think?" asked Margaret.

"Well, it looks nice, but what's with the pockets?"

Margaret looked at the dress she was carrying and noticed the fact that there were pockets on each side of the dress near where pockets would normally be on pants.

"Strange. I don't think I've ever seen a dress with pockets before. But hey, they're not very noticeable!"

Eileen took a look at the dress and saw that the pockets were indeed stitched so as to barely show.

"You're right, Margaret. I think I'll take it."

"Glad you see it my way." said Margaret as she handed the dress to Eileen to hold on to.

With Eileen having already picked out her dress, this freed her up to help Margaret choose hers. It took a few minutes, as Margaret wanted to get something that would really impress Mordecai, but they eventually settled on a purple strapless gown.

After picking out a set of makeup for each of them, the two girls paid for their purchases and ventured back out into the mall.

* * *

><p>"Man, it feels like it's Christmas around here!" said Eileen.<p>

It was really mid-July, but the increased number of patrons in the mall made it seem like it was in fact Christmas time.

The girls began once again slowly making their way through the crowds to their next destination, the shoe store. The trip, however, proved to be more time consuming than they thought, as the bags that they were carrying meant extra space that they needed to squeeze through everyone.

Eventually, they did end up making it into the shoe store. Margaret checked her watch and gasped as she found out what time it was.

"What is it, Margaret?"

"We only have another hour before our dates! We need to pick up the pace!"

"Calm down, Margaret. I doubt getting shoes and jewelry is going to take that long."

Margaret paused, before slowly breathing in and out a few times.

"Okay, I'm calm. Let's not waste too much time, though."

Eileen agreed with her, and they both quickly made their way to the dress shoes.

They spent the next few minutes skimming through the shoes that were available.

"How does this one look?"

Eileen popped up from where she was and showed Margaret a green sequined high-heeled shoe.

"Are you sure you want to do that? I seem to remember you not having the best balance."

"Oh, shoot, you're right." said Eileen.

She put the shoe she was holding back on the table and began looking for a shoe with a smaller heel.

A few minutes later, Margaret finally found a shoe she liked. It was a purple high-heeled shoe that was actually pretty close in shade to her dress.

"I think I found my shoes. What do you think?"

"Wow, Margaret, they look great! Do they have them in your size?"

Margaret skimmed through the boxes under the shoe she was interested in. She did eventually find her size, and she pumped her fist in victory.

"Yes, I got one!"

"Nice one! Now let's see if I can find a pair for me." said Eileen.

Luckily, finding a good pair for Eileen didn't take much time at all thanks to Margaret's help, and she found another green high-heeled shoe with a small heel. Unfortunately, the shade was a little farther off from Eileen's dress and it also didn't have sequins. But Eileen didn't really mind too much.

So, the girls went ahead and paid for their shoes and made their way back into the crowd.

* * *

><p>It was getting near closing time, so the crowd has thankfully begun to thin out, but it was still relatively busy. As Margaret and Eileen made their way to the jewelry store, Margaret decided to check her watch again to see how much time they had to work with.<p>

"It looks like we've got about forty minutes to get our jewelry and get back to the apartment so we can get ready before Mordecai and Rigby get there."

"I think the crowds are starting to clear out as well, so we should be able to get to the jewelry store pretty quickly." said Eileen.

The two girls did end up making it to the jewelry store pretty quickly, and they didn't waste any time looking for something good to wear.

"What do you think we should go for?" asked Eileen.

Margaret was busy checking out the prices, wincing as she looked at one high price tag after another.

"I was hoping to do something more, but I guess all we can really do is get earrings."

Eileen noticed the glum look on Margaret's face, and she decided to take action. She leaned over on one of the cases to get eye contact with Margaret.

"Listen Margaret, I've seen the way Mordecai looks at you. He thinks you're one of the most beautiful women in the world, and I doubt that the way you look is really going to lessen his opinion of you. So don't think that you have to look good to make him like you."

Margaret paused as she took in what Eileen said.

"You know, you're right Eileen. I've been overreacting. Sorry about that."

"No problem. You picked out some earrings yet?" asked Eileen.

"Oh, I should be doing that."

The girls took some time looking through some of the earrings on sale. They unfortunately didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, though, as even some of the earrings were out of their price range.

Eventually, they both decided to go with simple pearl earrings and paid for their purchases.

* * *

><p>By this time, the mall was just about ready to close for the night, so the girls were ushered out of the building with their bags as they headed over to Margaret's car. The time spent driving to Margaret's apartment was mostly spent chatting about random things, as well as the date tonight.<p>

They finally pulled up to the apartment building and quickly made their way inside, reaching Margaret's apartment with fifteen minutes to spare.

The girls split off into separate rooms as they changed into their dresses.

Margaret took a look in the mirror after completely finishing with changing her clothes. She looked perfect in her dress (and she chose to skip the makeup), but she began messing with her hair out of nervousness, trying slightly different hairstyles.

Suddenly, she remembered what Eileen said back at the mall and mentally slapped herself for being stupid. She fixed her hair one more time to return to what it was at the beginning, before slipping on her shoes and heading back out into the living room.

Eileen meanwhile was also taking a look at herself in the mirror in the room she was in. She was actually surprisingly pretty happy with the way she looked, and if she didn't think of the pockets that were on her dress, it almost felt to her like they weren't even there.

The big question she was mulling over in her head, though, was whether she should wear her glasses. She knew full well about the fact that Rigby thought she was hot without her glasses on, but the first time she tried to go without them on wasn't exactly the most comfortable experience.

"I really should get contacts." Eileen mumbled to herself, before deciding she should probably stick with her glasses.

She did one last twirl in front of the mirror before heading back into the living room.

* * *

><p>After the two girls showed some appreciation for how the other looked in their dresses, they sat down on the couch as they waited for their dates to show up.<p>

Suddenly, the doorbell rang right on time, and Margaret walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Mordecai and Rigby.

Both of the guys were sporting button-down shirts. Mordecai's was light blue, while Rigby had a white one on. Rigby had a sour look on his face, most likely due to the fact that Mordecai begged him to go with Eileen, but he was prepared to suffer through it in silence to help his friend out.

"Hi guys!" said Margaret, cheerfully waving.

"Uh…hey Margaret." said Mordecai nervously.

"Hi Margaret." said Rigby.

"Come on in, we were just getting the final touches ready before we head out."

"Wow, Margaret, you look great!" said Mordecai as he took a look at Margaret's dress.

"Thanks, Mordecai." said Margaret, giggling.

"What do you think of my dress, Rigby?" asked Eileen, as she twirled around for emphasis.

Rigby didn't reply at first, but at a sharp glare from Mordecai he quickly replied to Eileen.

"Um…you look very nice Eileen."

"Thank you, Rigby."

"So, are you all ready to go?" asked Mordecai.

Everyone else replied in the affirmative, and the four of them left Margaret's apartment and headed outside to the parking lot.

"Isn't that the car you cruised with that one time?" asked Margaret as she looked at the car they were in front of.

It turns out that it was in fact Carmenita in front of them, looking just as it did before that incident.

"Uh, yeah it is. We had to do a lot of begging for Pops to let us borrow his car again after that time. Don't worry, though, we're not going to be flying." said Mordecai.

The four of them then piled into the car. Mordecai took the driver's seat, while Margaret got shotgun, which left Rigby and Eileen to take the back seat.

So, as they pulled out of the lot, they all agreed that this was probably going to be one of the better dates that they went on, especially now that they all know that they don't need to worry about going out to impress someone.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of the story! I hope you guys have enjoyed it, considering this was really the first time I wrote something that didn't involve Mordecai and Rigby.<strong>

**Anyway, before I go, I wanted to let you guys know that I stuck in a little Easter Egg somewhere in the story that pertains to one of my other fics. I'll give you guys a clue, though. It involves Eileen. First one to figure out the Easter egg and stick it in their review gets a cookie.**

**I'll see you guys later, when it's NeoNimbus's turn in the Fanfiction Rotation. Bye!**

**RK**


	16. Story 15

Genre: General/Humor

Requested By: NeoNimbus

Summary: When Mordecai and Rigby are assigned to tend to the gardens, they find themselves confronting a rather crabby rose that puts their assignment in jeopardy.

* * *

><p>It was yet another normal day at the park, and the employees were currently sitting on the steps in front of the house like usual, waiting for Benson to arrive. Benson just happened to be running a little late, so everyone was passing the time by talking to each other, including Mordecai and Rigby.<p>

"Dude, what's taking Benson so long?" asked Mordecai.

His question went unanswered, as Benson finally walked up to the rest of the group.

"Sorry I'm late, you guys. I ran into some issues back at my apartment."

Benson paused for a second as he looked around the group, seeing if anyone had anything to say. No one did, so Benson decided to start giving out the chores for the day.

"Alright, we've got a busy day today, so I want all of you to get your jobs done quickly. Muscle Man and High Five Ghost, I need you two to clean out the fountain, and mow the football field. Skips, both of the carts need repaired so get on that as soon as you can. Pops and Thomas, you guys are going to be doing some cleaning in the attic. It's a mess up there. Also, the hedges around the house could use some trimming, so try and get that done as well."

Benson paused again before continuing.

"Mordecai and Rigby, I need you two to tend to the garden. Some of the plants are starting to get a bit out of control, so they need to be trimmed down. Also, most of the plants are going to need water with the watering can only. Any of the plants that are wilted you need to pull out by hand. Hopefully you two should be able to do this without screwing it up."

"Don't worry, Benson. You can count on us." said Mordecai.

"Yeah, Benson. We're gonna trim the hell out of those plants!" said Rigby.

Benson sighed.

"Alright guys, let's get to work."

* * *

><p>After everyone went their separate ways to get to work, Mordecai and Rigby made their way over to the garden. Even though the two of them were pretty gung-ho about tending the garden during the meeting, they certainly didn't expect to run into a garden this big.<p>

Apparently, someone must have gone nuts with planting flowers and other things, as the garden seemed to be about twenty five feet long, and that wasn't including the greenhouse, which added another few feet to the amount of ground they now had to cover.

"Aw man, this sucks! We have to water this whole thing?" asked Rigby.

"I know dude, I don't like it either. Let's just get this over with so we can get out of here."

Rigby still wasn't very enthusiastic about the prospect of working with the garden, but he reluctantly joined Mordecai as they made their way to the shed.

* * *

><p>An hour passed as Mordecai and Rigby began trimming down the overgrown plants as well as watering any of the plants that need it. It was a warm day at the park, so the both of them were sweating pretty badly. Rigby was busy taking care of the watering part of the job, and he was eyeing the water coming out of the can constantly wishing that he could just dump it over himself to cool down a bit. Unfortunately, Mr. Maellard limited the amount of water the employees could use as a cost-cutting measure during the summer, so they couldn't really afford to waste it.<p>

As for Mordecai, he got stuck with the more difficult work, so he ended up having to pull weeds and dead flowers, while also trying to concentrate on keeping the sweat out of his eyes. Also, a lot of the plants were putting up a fight, not wanting to be pulled out of the ground, so Mordecai had to put his back into it. At this point, his back was killing him, and he couldn't stand it anymore. He knew, though, that he needed to tough it out if he wanted to be more respected.

"Ugh…why is it so hot out here?" complained Rigby.

"It's July, dude. What do you expect?"

Rigby only replied with a loud groan, leading Mordecai to roll his eyes at the raccoon before returning to work.

* * *

><p>Eventually, they made their way into the greenhouse after slowly finishing up the outside area of the garden. It was slightly cooler inside compared to outside, but that didn't stop Rigby from continuing to complain.<p>

It was almost the end of the day, and Mordecai was about ready to throttle Rigby when the raccoon pointed out something.

"Look, it's the last plant! We finish this and we're finally done."

Mordecai took a look at the plant that Rigby pointed out and saw what looked to be a simple rose. It looked almost like one of those roses that you see in movies, except for the fact that it lost some of its color due to withering.

"Do you think we should just pull it out? It looks like it might be too late for it."

Rigby walked over and took a closer look at the rose.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Rigby immediately grabbed the rose and attempted to pull it out himself. Unfortunately, the rose turned out to be quite the fighter, as it didn't budge.

"Stupid rose! Stop being so stubborn!" yelled Rigby as he struggled mightily to pull the rose out.

Mordecai let out a "hmm-hmm" noise as he watched Rigby fail at the task, before walking over and pushing Rigby off to the side.

"Watch a pro handle this." he said smugly.

As Rigby pouted off to the side, Mordecai counted down in his mind before pulling at the rose as hard as he could. Somehow, even with the major difference in strength between Rigby and Mordecai, the rose still did not move an inch.

Finally, Mordecai gave up and collapsed to the ground to Rigby's laughter.

"Wow, I can't believe even you can't pull up that rose."

"Shut up! There must be something in the ground that's preventing us from pulling this rose out."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that." said Rigby.

He continued chuckling for the next few seconds until Mordecai finally had enough and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow! Okay, I'll stop laughing." said Rigby as he rubbed his arm.

Satisfied, Mordecai turned back to the rose and thought about how they were going to get rid of this troublesome plant.

"Any ideas?" asked Rigby.

"We could try cutting it. Grab the shears for me, dude."

Rigby complied and handed the shears to Mordecai. The blue jay carefully slipped the open shears around the stem of the rose before cutting. The rose still stood tall, though, as Mordecai removed the shears from around the stem to find a small round hole where the rose had bent the metal easily.

"Whoa. This thing is pretty tough." said Mordecai as he looked at the damage to the shears in awe.

Suddenly, the rose started writhing and spitting as it apparently didn't like the fact that Mordecai attempted to get rid of it. Both Mordecai and Rigby jumped as they looked back at the rose and saw what it was doing.

"What the heck is that thing?" asked Rigby, beginning to get nervous.

"I dunno! It's definitely not a rose, though!" said Mordecai.

Without warning, the rose pulled itself out of the ground. Mordecai and Rigby stared in utter shock as the rose grew exponentially every second, until something snapped in Mordecai's mind, and he grabbed Rigby's hand, dragging him towards the exit of the greenhouse.

"Run, Rigby!" yelled Mordecai.

Rigby didn't need to be asked twice after snapping out of his stupor. Screaming, he shot off like a rocket after Mordecai on all fours. The rose monster roared as it chased Mordecai and Rigby.

The two of them did eventually make it to the exit, and quickly shut and locked the door behind them once they got out. They slumped against the door as they tried to catch their breath.

"We need to find Skips." said Mordecai.

"Okay, just let me catch my breath." said Rigby.

He didn't get a chance, though; as Mordecai grabbed his hand and dragged him off to Skips's house.

* * *

><p>"Alright, what did you two do now?" asked Skips as he stared at the panting blue jay and raccoon from his position in front of one of the carts.<p>

"There was a rose in the greenhouse that turned into a giant monster when I tried to cut it." said Mordecai through pants.

Skips sighed.

"As I'm sure you guys have figured out, that plant is not actually a rose. I actually got it as a gift from the Guardians of Youth a while back. It's similar to a rose, but it's actually from their home."

"Okay, so what happened to it to make it turn into a giant monster?" asked Rigby.

"I was getting to that! One of the Guardians told me that an evil wizard placed a spell on the plant to give it actual life. So, as you can probably imagine, it didn't like it very much when you tried to kill it."

"So, how do we get rid of it?" asked Mordecai.

"Lots of pesticide. Anyway, where is it right now?"

"It's hopefully still in the greenhouse." said Rigby.

Rigby's statement was immediately proven false a few seconds later, as a loud roar came from the garden area.

"It's escaped! Come on, let's go!" said Skips, before the three of them jumped into the cart that Skips has already fixed.

* * *

><p>Instead of heading towards the monster, Skips drove Mordecai and Rigby back to the house instead.<p>

"Come down to the basement. We've got all of the pesticide down there."

The three of them rushed into the house, only to run into Thomas and Pops, who had finished their work in the attic and were about to head outside.

"What's the rush, boys?" asked Pops.

"The rose from the greenhouse is pretty angry. We were going to grab some of the pesticide in the basement to take it down." said Skips.

"Oh dear, that's a shame. I've always liked that plant." said Pops sadly.

"Any chance we could give you guys a hand?" asked Thomas.

"Thanks, but I think we've got this under control." said Mordecai.

"Don't worry, we'll call you guys if we need any help. Now let's go, you guys! We don't have much time." said Skips.

Mordecai and Rigby nodded, and the three of them rushed down to the basement, grabbing gas masks and a large tub of pesticide that they loaded into sprayers for each of them.

After the last sprayer was filled, the three of them rushed back upstairs and back outside, driving off towards the monster.

* * *

><p>By the time they reached the monster, it's already torn down a good chunk of the trees in the area and it was already on its way through another.<p>

"We're going to have to lead it away from the park, or the pesticide will do more harm than good!" yelled Skips as they drove towards the monster.

"I've got it! Head for the greenhouse!" said Mordecai.

Skips complied and they reached the greenhouse a few minutes later to find a large pile of glass where the greenhouse used to be. Mordecai rushed into the area, being careful not to step on any of the glass, before grabbing the shears and hopping back into the cart. As they drove back to the monster's location, Mordecai explained himself.

"Hopefully we should be able to use these to goad the monster into following us."

"Good thinking, dude!" said Rigby.

After reaching the monster once again, Mordecai brandished the shears and started rapidly opening and closing them in a cutting motion. By some sheer amount of luck, the monster noticed the shears and began heading towards the cart.

"Go! Go!" said Mordecai.

Skips hit the gas pedal and the cart shot off towards the exit. Mordecai held on to the cart as best as he could while simultaneously goading the monster.

* * *

><p>The monster chased the cart for at least a couple of miles before Skips found a suitable place to use the pesticide, which turned out to be the dump.<p>

He pulled in to the dump and the three of them jumped out of the cart, Mordecai and Rigby understanding Skips's choice.

"Get your gas masks on!" said Skips.

The three of them pulled on their masks as asked.

"Aim towards the entrance. When you see the monster coming, start firing." said Skips.

It fell silent between them as they pointed the sprayer nozzles towards the entrance. A few seconds later, the monster appeared from around the corner and entered the dump.

"Fire!" yelled Skips.

Mordecai and Rigby started yelling like action heroes as they along with Skips sprayed their pesticide at the monster, which thankfully started working, as the monster roared and started to wilt. The monster attempted to slowly trudge its way towards the three guys to stop the spraying, but it started to shrink until it was finally normal size once it reached the guys.

As the former rose monster lay on the ground, defeated, Mordecai walked up to it and lifted one of his feet, smashing it down on top of the rose, getting rid of it for good.

"Great job you guys." said Skips.

"Let's get out of here. I don't want to think about plants anymore." said Rigby.

Skips and Mordecai both agreed with Rigby's assessment, and they piled into the cart and headed back to the park, removing their masks when they were far enough away from the dump.

* * *

><p>The gang arrived back at the park to find an angry Benson waiting in front of the wreckage.<p>

"What the heck happened here? I knew I shouldn't have trusted you two with the garden. Look at all of the damage you've caused!"

Skips held up a hand to silence Benson, before beginning to explain what happened.

"Listen Benson, this wasn't entirely their fault. I should have mentioned the fact that I had a dangerous plant inside the greenhouse."

Benson looked over at Skips, slightly confused.

"Wait, you had a dangerous plant in the greenhouse? Why wasn't I informed about this?"

"Sorry about that, Benson. I kind of forgot it was in there. Don't worry, though, we got rid of it."

Benson sighed in disgust before turning back to Mordecai and Rigby.

"Alright, fine. I'll let you guys off for now, since it's the end of the day. But tomorrow I want this mess cleaned up or you're fired! You get that?"

"Sure, Benson, we've got it." said Mordecai.

"Yeah, we understand." said Rigby.

"Unbelievable!" said Benson before walking off. Skips walked off a few seconds later after collecting the rest of the gear from Mordecai and Rigby.

"You want to go play some video games?" asked Rigby.

"Yes I do."

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this story! I'll admit that I probably veered a bit away from the comedy portion of it, but I at least think this story is pretty interesting. Hopefully you guys agree, so let me know.<strong>

**Anyway, I don't really have anything important to say, so I'll see you guys next time when BlueLightningXD goes next on the Fanfiction Rotation. See ya!**

**RK**


	17. Story 16

Genre: Friendship/Hurt/Comfort

Requested By: BlueLightningXD

Summary: We all know Mordecai was enraged, worried, and depressed about Rigby's coma in "Eggscellent", but what went through Rigby's mind before he slipped into the life-threatening coma? And how grateful was he when he finally woke up?

NOTE: Be warned, most of the story will be in Rigby's POV, but the first section of the story is in third person to set things up.

* * *

><p>"Dude, you're allergic to eggs!?"<p>

"I thought if I ate really fast, maybe I wouldn't notice."

As Rigby was lying in the ambulance that is on its way to the hospital, his mind was in a haze. As much as he wanted to admit that he probably made the stupidest decision in his life, he really did think he would be okay if he shoveled the eggs down. Either way, he was busy mentally kicking himself as he was slipping away.

"I just really wanted that hat. Did I win it?"

Rigby lifted his arms weakly and felt around his head, hoping to find the hat there. Unfortunately, all he found was his hatless head.

"Dude, you didn't even come close." said Mordecai.

Rigby still desperately wanted that hat, even though in his state, he'd be lucky to get back to the restaurant. So he decided to make it a little easier on himself and get somebody else to do it.

"Mordecai, promise me that whatever happens, you'll get me that hat."

"What?"

Rigby was getting weaker at this point, and his voice started coming out in a strained whisper.

"Please…just promise you'll get the hat for me."

"Okay, I promise."

Rigby smiled as his last few seconds of consciousness permitted him to say one more thing.

"You're a good friend."

Rigby then passed out, slipping into a coma as Mordecai's panicked shouts of his name were the last things that he heard, at least for the moment.

* * *

><p><strong>POV: <strong>Rigby

I don't exactly know what happened after finally slipping into my coma. The last thing I was aware of was Mordecai promising me he would get the hat for me.

By the way, did you know that some coma patients can actually still vaguely hear what some people are saying in the vicinity? Turns out I was one of them too, as I could hear almost exactly what people are saying if I concentrate enough.

Anyway, I should be getting back to the matter at hand. Once Mordecai and I got to the hospital, I was immediately transported to an empty room, and even though Mordecai really wanted to stay with me, the doctors told him to stay in the waiting room until I was ready.

So, as I was lying in the bed, I was apparently fitted with an IV, as I felt some strange pressure on my arm. The doctor that was assigned to me performed a few tests, and then let Mordecai in the room.

I heard a lot more than just two footsteps coming into the room, so I assumed that the rest of the guys must have arrived to see me.

The doctor decided to speak first.

"Your friend Rigby's in a coma because of an allergic reaction his body had to the eggs. Unfortunately, due to the large quantity of eggs that he consumed, there's a strong chance that he may never wake up again."

I had trouble wrapping my head around it. I might never wake up again? Stupid Rigby. Stupid, stupid Rigby.

As I was mentally kicking myself for being an idiot, Benson spoke up.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"All we can do is wait. I'm sorry."

I heard more footsteps and the door opening and closing shut, so the doctor must have left.

My thoughts were soon interrupted again when Benson spoke up once again.

"Well, I hope you've learned something from all of this."

"What?" said Mordecai, or at least it sounded like him.

"Maybe if you've been working like you were supposed to, none of this would've happened."

The next thing I knew, I heard the sound of a fist meeting glass, and the room suddenly became loud with all of the talking going on.

"Mordecai, what are you doing?!"

"What's your problem?! This has nothing to do with work! He just wanted the hat!"

"And look where it got him! Your friend over there is only going to get you into trouble!"

I heard a harsh laugh coming from Mordecai's end.

"Right, take advice from Benson about friends, since you've got soooo many of 'em."

"I have friends."

"No you don't. Everyone only hangs out with you because you're our boss! Rigby only wanted to try and win a hat. He doesn't deserve to be in a coma because of it."

"Where are you going?!"

"Back to the restaurant."

"Why?!"

"Because I made a promise to Rigby and I'm gonna keep it. That's what friends do for each other."

As Mordecai left the room, I felt a new appreciation for Mordecai. After all of the stuff that we've been through since starting at the park (which I'm only willing to admit was partly my fault), he's still willing to vouch for me, and keep his promise despite my not as good intentions.

Unfortunately, the moment was ruined when Muscle Man decided to interject.

"Awkward."

* * *

><p>So, as the days went on, Mordecai visited me every chance he could get to tell me of his journey to finish the Eggscellent Challenge. Of course, he was unaware that I could hear every word he said, but it doesn't really matter at this point.<p>

Unfortunately, it hasn't really gone well for him. During his most recent visit, he was telling me about how difficult the challenge was. I appreciated the fact that he wouldn't give up, but of course I couldn't tell him.

While Mordecai was talking to me, I heard some more footsteps coming in. It turns out that they belonged to Skips and Benson. The latter was here to apologize for the way he acted. Mordecai predictably was dismissive of Benson's apology, but what the gumball machine said next was surprising even to me.

"You know, there might be a way to win that hat."

"What? What are you talking about?" asked Mordecai.

"Tell him Skips."

"A long time ago, I knew a guy by the name of Jonathan Kimble. He used to work in park and just like Rigby, he was obsessed with the hat. His drive for the hat was relentless. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. The omelet was the only thing he would ever eat. He kept a journal, and kept tracking every advantage he could find that would help him on his quest for the hat. One day, he was really excited. He just kept saying, "I figured it out! I figured it out!" He left to attempt it, but he never came back."

"So, what happened?" asked Mordecai.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean? Didn't you go to the restaurant?"

"None of us did. He failed so many times, none of us thought he would ever do it."

"Why are you guys telling me all this?"

Benson was the one who replied to his question.

"Because, we got his notebook out of his old locker. It looks like he figured out how to finish the omelet. If you're willing to take the risk, you could win the hat for Rigby."

"Let's do this."

As the three of them left, I had a renewed feeling of hope, thinking that I might just get that hat after all.

* * *

><p>The next few days were pretty dull. Mordecai's visits became less and less frequent, which I could understand, considering he was busy training. I would have appreciated a bit of company, though. The only times he actually did visit, I couldn't really even tell it was him, as he didn't say a word to me.<p>

Mordecai had a bit of a schedule going when it came to visiting me. He would usually be around the same time each time he was here, when I could hear the birds chirping outside the window. So, when he didn't show up at all, I assumed he must have gone to the restaurant.

So, as I lied there in bed, I silently hoped that Mordecai would come out of this alright. He seemed pretty confident from what I could glean from the sounds he made, so I'm thinking that might be some help.

A few hours later, the door to my room opened again, and a bunch of people came in, who I assume were the guys. I wasn't sure what was going on, so I listened carefully to see if anyone was speaking.

Unfortunately, nobody wanted to talk, which I was disappointed and a little nervous about, until I felt something being put on to my head. A flash of light emitted from the blackness that was what I could see, and I suddenly realized that I could move my body again. Overjoyed, I slowly opened my eyes and smiled as I looked at the guys, who looked to be glad to see me finally awake.

I felt around my head once again, and I laid my hands on the trucker hat that I wanted so much. I felt the air holes around the back of the hat, and the soft front of the hat. I turned towards Mordecai.

"You won the hat for me."

"Yeah man, but I couldn't have done it without some help."

"Thanks guys."

I took a few minutes to look at all of the guys around my bed, who at least looked like they were happy to see me awake. To be honest, I never really was the best at reading how someone was really feeling. I never really worried about it too much, though.

Anyway, I took a moment to rest when I suddenly noticed a commercial coming on the television across the room.

"LOOK!"

I pointed at the TV, and everyone followed my directions and looked at it.

"Do you like steak?" asked the narrator.

"Yeah!" said the two men on camera.

"Well then come on down to the Steak Universe. If you and a friend can finish our 96 ounce steak and eggs in under an hour, we'll give you 2 free t-shirts that say 'Raise the Steaks'. RAISE THE STEAKS! Freee. So remember when you need steak, come on down to the Steak Universe."

As much as I didn't really want to have to go through this mess again, I couldn't resist the allure of free t-shirts. So, I turned towards Mordecai and gave him an offer.

"Dude, I'll eat the steak if you eat the eggs."

Apparently, everyone else didn't want to deal with it either.

"Do you think if we take that hat off him he'll go back into a coma?" asked Benson.

"Only one way to find out."

Everyone began to lean over the bed and reach towards my head. I did the only thing I could think of, clutch my hat to my head and yell one word.

"Noo!"

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this one! Sorry for taking a little while on this. You can blame the fact that I finally got my hands on a copy of The Last of Us (that game is so good). Also, I've been kind of trying to muster up the enthusiasm to get Episode 2 of You Will Remember Me done, but after the amount of time I spent on Episode 1, I'm not really looking forward to it. Also the lack of enthusiasm kind of trickles over to everything else, so I once again apologize.<strong>

**Anyway, I might have ended up mangling some facts on coma patients, so I hope no one takes it the wrong way. Oh, and a lot of the dialogue comes straight from the episode, so I'd like to thank the Regular Show wiki for helping me with that.**

**So, that's all I really have to say, so I'll see you next time when it's MASTER T-REX's turn in the Fanfiction Rotation. Bye!**

**RK**


	18. Story 17

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy

Requested By: MASTER T-REX

Summary: Mordecai and Rigby end up getting sucked into their video game console, and they now have to enlist the help of all of the heroes of their games to defeat the bad guys and return home.

NOTE: I did pick up Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land recently, and I'm kind of trying to avoid writing anything that would sound similar to it, so hopefully this should work out.

* * *

><p>It was another normal day at the park, and Mordecai and Rigby, as usual, were playing video games. Mordecai was being his usual cool and collected self, while Rigby was angrily slamming his fist on the buttons.<p>

After Rigby lost for the umpteenth time, he turned towards Mordecai, desperate for a chance to finally beat him.

"Come on, dude, one more time. I know I can beat you!"

Mordecai groaned.

"We've been playing for two hours! I just want to watch some TV."

"Please, just one more time!"

Mordecai paused before giving his answer.

"Ugh, fine. One more time, and then we're shutting this thing off, okay?"

Rigby nodded eagerly before returning his attention to the screen.

Both of them were silent once the game started, the only sounds coming from the TV itself, as well as the buttons being pressed.

Rigby was determined to finally beat Mordecai, so his focus was completely on the game, so much so that it surprised Mordecai to see him so quiet.

It was a close match, with Rigby keeping up with Mordecai up until Rigby lost his focus and lost a life, costing him a boatload of points and the game, as Mordecai finished a few seconds later.

"Good game, dude. I didn't expect for you to keep up with me that far in."

Mordecai held out his hand to shake with Rigby, but the raccoon was too angry to notice. In a fit of rage, he screamed and threw the controller, which hit the cartridge and broke the connection with the system.

"Dude, what the heck was that? You almost broke it!" shouted Mordecai angrily.

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to hit the system." said Rigby after realizing what he had done.

Mordecai sighed before getting up and grabbing the cartridge. Suddenly, there was a burst of green light and the two of them were sucked in to the system without warning.

* * *

><p>Mordecai and Rigby woke up a few minutes later after temporarily blacking out due to the effects of the transportation.<p>

"Whoa. Where are we?" asked Rigby as he took a look around the area.

Curious, Mordecai also decided to take a look around. The room they were in was pretty empty, save for a few doors along one of the walls. The walls and floor were dark green and appeared to be made up of cubes.

"I don't know, dude. If I had to guess, I think we might have been sucked into our video game system."

Mordecai then suddenly remembered what had happened before they were sucked in and quickly turned towards Rigby, giving him an angry look.

"What?" asked Rigby, confused.

"This is your fault. If you hadn't knocked the cartridge out of place when you threw the controller, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

Rigby's mind was hazy at this point, so it took him a few seconds to remember, but when he did, he had a retort ready.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that the system would suck us in like that? It's not like this is the first time one of our games got knocked out of place."

Mordecai sighed.

"Look, we're not going to get out of here by standing here and arguing. Let's go see if one of these doors will help."

Rigby nodded and followed Mordecai towards where all the doors were.

"So, which one should we go through?" asked Rigby.

"I dunno, dude. They all look the same."

Mordecai started pacing, taking a look at all of the doors before making his decision.

"I guess we should probably pick a door and hope for the best."

"Really? We're just going to leave the whole thing up to chance?" asked Rigby.

"Well, if you have any better ideas, I'd love to hear them."

Mordecai waited, expecting Rigby to pull out an idea of his own, but the raccoon was silent, so he went towards one of the doors and pulled it open, revealing a large field.

"Here goes nothing."

Mordecai then walked through the door, with Rigby following close behind.

* * *

><p>Once Mordecai and Rigby went through the door, they both began taking a look around.<p>

"Do you know where we are?" asked Rigby.

Mordecai didn't answer, as he noticed two specks in the distance. He immediately began heading towards the specks, intending to find out what they were, leaving Rigby to have to run to keep up.

Eventually, the specks in the distance were revealed to be two men, one carrying a pickaxe and one carrying a shovel. Rigby's eyes lit up as he realized who they were.

"Dude! It's the Dig Champs!"

"Wow, you're right. We should probably try to talk to them, and see if they can help us get out of here."

Rigby nodded, and the two of them walked over to the Dig Champs. Mordecai decided to speak first.

"Excuse me. We were accidentally sucked into our game console, and we were wondering if you guys knew a way we could get out of here."

Neither of the Dig Champs replied. Confused, Mordecai decided to try again.

"Hello? Did you hear me? We need help."

Still no response. Mordecai turned towards Rigby, exasperated.

"Dude, why aren't they talking?"

Rigby thought for a moment before replying.

"Maybe these guys can't talk since there's no actual talking in Dig Champs."

"Huh, I guess you're right. So what should we do?"

As if to answer his question, the Dig Champs began quickly making their way down the field. Surprised, Mordecai and Rigby had to run to catch up to them.

After spending some time following the Dig Champs and taking out some enemies along the way, the group finally reached the final boss of the game, a giant snail.

"Ready to take this guy down, dude?" asked Mordecai.

"You know it!"

Mordecai, Rigby and the Dig Champs rushed up to the snail and began whacking away at it. The snail was immediately overwhelmed, having only been programmed for two people.

As the snail disappeared, Mordecai and Rigby celebrated, when suddenly a door appeared next to them. Unsure about what to do, the two of them looked at the Dig Champs, and Mordecai could've sworn that one of the Dig Champs actually moved forward a bit rather than sideways, seemingly signaling to them to go through the door.

"Come on, let's go."

Rigby nodded, and the two of them stepped through the doorway. As soon as they returned to the green room, the door disappeared behind them.

"Guess this means we've got to go through all of them." said Rigby.

Mordecai nodded, before the two of them went through the next door.

* * *

><p>And so it went for the next few hours, as Mordecai and Rigby went through each of the doors, meeting their favorite video game characters and helping them defeat the bad guys.<p>

They engaged in a fighting tournament with the Alley Fight Dudes, eventually reaching the end and defeating the organizer of the tournament, in turn rescuing the daughter of one of the Dudes.

They also helped the two karate men take down the Hammer once again, having still remembered the trick to beating him.

They even managed to meet up with the guys from the video game they played during the house rules incident, pulling off quadruple death combos like it was nothing.

Eventually, Mordecai and Rigby managed to complete all of the doors. After returning to the green room, the two of them stood there and waited, expecting to be sent back home. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

"Dude, why aren't we being sent back home?" asked Rigby.

As if to answer Rigby's question, a set of stairs suddenly started appearing out of nowhere, leading up to a giant door ten feet in the air.

"Whoa." they both said in unison as they stared at the new door.

"This must be the exit. Once we go through this door, we'll finally get to go home." said Mordecai.

"Thank god. I'm getting tired of this." said Rigby.

"Dude, if you didn't mess up the cartridge, we wouldn't be in this!"

"Look, I said I was sorry, okay? Let's just go through that door and go home. Then we can forget this ever happened."

Mordecai still wasn't happy, but he begrudgingly agreed with Rigby, and the both of them climbed up the stairs and went through the door.

* * *

><p>Behind the door turned out to be another empty room, and Mordecai wasn't happy to see this.<p>

"Oh come on! We did all of your stupid doors! Why can't we go home?" he said, yelling at no one in particular.

"Dude, calm down. There must be some reason why we're still stuck in here."

A pair of yellow eyes suddenly appeared from a dark corner of the room. The owner of said eyes then flew forward, revealing…

"The Destroyer of Worlds?" asked Mordecai.

It was indeed the Destroyer of Worlds. Mordecai and Rigby looked at each other as they tried to figure out what to do.

"What are we going to do now? We don't have the giant lemon robot in here!" said Rigby.

Mordecai didn't reply, instead spending his time racking his brain for ideas.

"I got it! Maybe we should try and see if we can call all of the heroes we met. It might even the odds."

"Alright, I'm up for anything, I suppose."

Mordecai and Rigby began concentrating as hard as they could, hoping that this would do the job. Somehow, it did, and all of the heroes that they met materialized in front of them.

"We did it!" said Rigby.

"No time for celebrating, dude. We gotta take the Destroyer of Worlds down!"

Mordecai then relayed the plan to everyone else. Despite none of them being able to talk, he assumed that they at least understood what he said.

Thankfully they did, and they all grouped up behind Mordecai and Rigby before charging at the Destroyer of Worlds, and the fight was on.

The Destroyer of Worlds was being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers early on, up until it reached half health, when it suddenly came back, taking down hero after hero, but its health continued to drop as well, as these heroes were still getting hits in.

Eventually, it was down to Mordecai, Rigby, the Dig Champs and the Alley Fight Dudes. The Destroyer of Worlds was also down to its last few hit points. The Dig Champs charged first, trying to take it out, but they were immediately disintegrated by laser eyes. The Alley Fight Dudes went next, but they suffered the same fate, but not before taking the Destroyer of Worlds down to a single hit point. This left Mordecai and Rigby by their lonesome.

"What do we do now?" asked Rigby, who was getting tired by this point.

"Don't worry, dude. It's down to one hit point. All we have to do is hit it once and we're home free."

Rigby gulped in nervousness, but he nodded in understanding.

Mordecai and Rigby turned towards the Destroyer of Worlds before immediately charging at him. The Destroyer of Worlds attempted to vaporize them with its laser eyes, but the two of them dodged them almost effortlessly.

Eventually, they were about to reach him, when suddenly Mordecai got an idea.

"Rigby, jump into my arms!"

"What? Dude, I'm not like that!"

Mordecai rolled his eyes before responding.

"I'm gonna throw you at him, and you take the last shot!"

Rigby nodded again, having finally understood. He immediately jumped into Mordecai's arms.

Once the blue jay stopped running, he quickly spun around and released Rigby, sending the raccoon flying towards the Destroyer of Worlds.

Rigby let out a primal scream as he flew; fist outstretched and finally hit the Destroyer of Worlds, destroying it.

Mordecai was there to catch Rigby as he landed. As the two of them smiled at each other, happy to have finally taken him down, another door appeared in front of them, and they walked through it, wanting desperately to get back home.

* * *

><p>The living room back in the real world was quiet, with not a sound coming from anywhere until a green light emitted from the console. When the light disappeared, Mordecai and Rigby were sitting on the couch, just like they were when they were first sucked in.<p>

"Woo hoo! I am so glad to be out of there." said Rigby, fist pumping in celebration.

"Me too, dude. Me too."

Mordecai and Rigby sat back on the couch, hoping to get some relaxing in. Unfortunately, a certain steaming mad gumball machine wasn't going to make it easy on them.

"Mordecai! Rigby! Where have you two been?"


	19. Story 18

Genre: Romance

Requested By: 21SidraCire

Summary: Mordecai admits the reason he never made a move on Margaret is because he likes Eileen! But when the blue jay and the mole start going out, Margaret starts having feelings for Mordecai she never had before.

* * *

><p>It was another beautiful day, and Mordecai and Rigby were at the coffee shop on break, looking to spend some time with Margaret and Eileen before they had to head back.<p>

However, unlike most days, Mordecai was spending less time drinking his coffee and more time psyching himself up.

"Dude, what are you doing? The other customers are looking at us funny." said Rigby.

"I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna ask her out on a date."

Rigby was slightly surprised to hear this coming from the blue jay, but he immediately started laughing.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

"I'm sorry, dude. Go right ahead. I'll be waiting outside once you blow it."

Mordecai gave him a dirty look, but Rigby ignored him, hopping off of his chair and heading outside.

"Stupid Rigby. Of course I'm not going to blow it." he said to himself before a voice pulled him out of his thoughts and made him jump.

"Everything alright here, Mordecai?" asked Margaret.

"Oh, uh…yeah Margaret. Everything's fine."

"Ok. Say, where'd Rigby go?"

"Oh, he's just waiting outside for me. Can I get my check please, by the way?"

"No problem. I'll be back in a sec." said Margaret.

While Margaret was busy in the back, Mordecai began breathing, trying to calm himself down as best as he could. She returned with the check a few seconds later and handed it over to Mordecai before being called over by a customer. But before she could see what he needed, Mordecai suddenly called out.

"Hey, Margaret?"

"What is it, Mordecai? I kind of need to help this customer."

Mordecai opened his beak to talk, but immediately panicked, not knowing what to say.

"Uhhhh…"

"Mordecai, are you alright?"

Mordecai held out the check, already filled out.

"Here's our check."

"Uh…thanks?"

Confused, Margaret took the check from Mordecai and went to help the customer, leaving Mordecai once again kicking himself for flaking out.

Not wanting to stay any longer, Mordecai left the coffee house to be met by Rigby with a smug look on his face.

"Shut up, Rigby. I know what you're about to say, and I don't want to hear it."

"Alright, fine, I won't say it. But I want to ask you a question."

Mordecai looked at Rigby questioningly.

"Okay, I'm listening."

Rigby sighed before speaking up.

"Look, you're starting to worry me with this whole business with Margaret. It's unhealthy constantly stressing out about asking a girl out on a date. So, I want you to be honest with me. Why do you have so much trouble asking her out? Most people wouldn't have this much trouble."

Mordecai opened his mouth to answer, but Rigby held up a finger to silence him.

"And don't give me that 'It's complicated' stuff, either. Because we've been friends for years, and I know when you're hiding something."

Mordecai froze as he realized he wasn't going to get out of this situation. Sighing, he looked at Rigby.

"I like Eileen, okay?!"

Rigby's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, I know. Why would I be going after Margaret when I liked Eileen? I didn't want to put her in a spot considering she liked you!"

"Whoa…" said Rigby, unable to think of anything else to say.

Mordecai rolled his eyes.

"Come on, let's go. Benson'll probably be looking for us by now."

The two of them began driving back to the park in an awkward silence.

* * *

><p>The next day, Mordecai went back to the coffee house by himself, wanting to get asking Eileen out over with.<p>

When he entered the coffee house, he looked around and found Eileen behind the counter.

"Hey, Eileen? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Mordecai. What's up?"

"Would you, uh…like to go out on a date with me?"

"Excuse me?" asked Eileen, confused.

"Look, I really like you, okay? Isn't that good enough for you?"

"Well, sure, but what about Rigby?"

"Eileen, let's be honest here. I know that you and Rigby have been warmer towards each other, but I really doubt it's going to get any farther than that. I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you that."

"It's okay, Mordecai. Now that I think about it, you're kind of right. I shouldn't be chasing someone who isn't interested in me."

"So, do you want to go out with me?" asked Mordecai.

"Sure. How does tonight sound after I'm done?"

"Sounds good. I'll pick you up at about 7."

"See you then." said Eileen, smiling.

Mordecai walked out of the coffee shop and back to the cart, but he couldn't resist a fist pump.

* * *

><p>So, over the next few weeks, Mordecai and Eileen began going out more and more as the two of them became closer together.<p>

Meanwhile, Margaret and Rigby were pretty much left on the sideline.

Margaret was in fact notified by Eileen about her date not too long after Mordecai left the coffee house. While the robin was happy to hear about Mordecai finding someone, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

Considering that Mordecai was spending a majority of his free time at the coffee house, Margaret had a feeling that something was going on between the two of them. She also had some feelings for the blue jay as well, but just like Mordecai originally acted, she didn't want to ask him out just to get rejected.

But now that Mordecai was dating Eileen, she didn't have to worry about it anymore. The only problem was that she immensely regretted not taking that chance.

So, as much as she didn't feel completely right for driving herself between Mordecai and Eileen, she couldn't let the blue jay go. She resolved that no matter what, she was going to convince Mordecai to give her a chance.

The only problem was that she knew she couldn't do it herself, so that was why she was standing in front of the door to the park house, sighing before knocking on it a couple of times.

During the few seconds the door remained closed, Margaret was hoping that Mordecai wasn't the one answering, but she let out the breath she was holding in when it was Rigby who answered.

"Margaret, what are you doing here?"

"Rigby, I need your help. Is Mordecai here?"

"No, he's off with Eileen again. Come on in."

Rigby let Margaret in and closed the door behind them.

"So, what do you need my help with?"

Margaret sighed before speaking up.

"I need your help breaking those two up. I…like Mordecai."

Rigby stared at Margaret for a few seconds before breaking into chuckles.

"I figured you had something for him. Alright, I'll help you. Let's get to work."

* * *

><p>Rigby and Margaret spent the next few days planning as Mordecai and Eileen continued to grow closer together.<p>

Eventually, they put together a list of plans, and put them to work, doing things like attempting to ruin their dates and other things that even Margaret was beginning to think was going a bit too far.

During another date, Margaret and Rigby were hiding away from the two dates preparing to attempt their next plan when Margaret suddenly spoke up.

"Rigby, are you sure we should be doing this? I just want to break them up, not make them hate each other."

"Well, all our plans are doing is bringing them closer together, so we need to resort to drastic measures if we're going to actually break them apart. If you have a better plan, I'm all ears."

Rather than reply, Margaret huffed and stood up, walking to Mordecai and Eileen.

"Margaret, where are you going?"

As Margaret reached the two of them, she heard them chatting animatedly, only stopping when Mordecai noticed Margaret walking up.

"Margaret? What are you doing here?"

Margaret slowly breathed in and out before replying.

"Mordecai, I want to tell you something. I really like you."

The group fell silent, nobody knowing what to say. Eventually, Mordecai spoke up.

"That's great, Margaret. I've liked you, too. But I've moved on. Besides, do you really want to tear me away from Eileen when she finally found someone who likes her back?"

Margaret fell silent, having not considered this fact. But before she could consider her choice, she suddenly noticed Eileen give a small smile and speak up.

"It's fine, Mordecai. I have a confession to make as well. I was only dating you so that I could bring you and Margaret together."

Mordecai was shocked to hear this.

"But Eileen, I like you."

"Are you're sure you're not just saying that to avoid having to convince yourself to share your feelings about Margaret?"

Mordecai didn't answer, burying his head in his hands. Instead of trying to get him to say it, Eileen turned towards Margaret and nodded her head towards him.

She walked over to where Mordecai was sitting and sat down next to him, lifting his head to face her.

"Don't look away, Mordecai."

"What-"

Mordecai was unable to complete his question, as Margaret kissed him. At first, Mordecai was attempting to resist, but Margaret held firm, refusing to let him go. The blue jay finally calmed down soon enough, almost melting into the kiss.

Eventually, the two of them came up for air. Breathing heavily, Margaret spoke up.

"So Mordecai, would you like to answer Eileen's question now?"

Mordecai looked down at his feet for a few seconds before answering.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Margaret. I remember vividly all of the times that I failed to ask you out on a date, and I began thinking that it was never going to work out between us. So I began convincing myself that I liked Eileen, and it kind of snowballed there."

"No, it's alright, Mordecai. I kind of got the gist of it from the amount of time you've been spending with us over at the coffee shop. Actions speak louder than words, am I right?"

Mordecai chuckled.

"Yeah, sure."

Mordecai and Margaret were about to kiss again when they were suddenly interrupted by Rigby storming over from his hiding place.

"Rigby, what are you doing here?"

"Hang on, Mordecai, let me ask my question first. What the heck is going on here? I come here thinking that we're going to break you and Eileen up, and now this happens!"

"Wait, Margaret? You and Rigby were trying to break us up?"

"Sorry, Mordecai. I had no idea about Eileen's plan, so I was trying to break you two apart so I could come in."

Mordecai sighed once again.

"No, it's no big deal. As for Rigby, would you mind explaining your plan to him, Eileen?"

"Sure thing. So, Rigby, it all started…"

And so, as Eileen told Rigby everything about her plan to bring Mordecai and Margaret together, the two lovebirds held hands and looked back, staring at the stars.


	20. Story 19

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Friendship

Requested By: (No Name Given)

Summary: Rigby gets sick with the stomach flu. At first everything seems alright, but then things go from bad to worse.

NOTE: Apologies to Demigoth C. Emo. I know your story was next on the list, but I honestly have no idea what I can do with what you're asking for. If you're okay with putting another request in, I'd be happy to do it next unless I'm working on another one at the moment, in which case it will be after that.

* * *

><p>It was another beautiful day at the park, as the alarm rang inside Mordecai and Rigby's room, waking the two of them up so that they could get ready for work.<p>

Mordecai got up just as he normally would have, but the pile of clothes that concealed his best friend did not move. Curious, Mordecai walked over and started shoving the clothes off of the trampoline.

"Dude, wake up. We're going to be late for work."

But when Mordecai finally managed to clear off all of the clothes, he was surprised to find that Rigby was still asleep. Annoyed, he kneeled down and yelled into his ear.

"Rigby!"

Screaming, Rigby almost jumped out of his bed.

"Ow, what was that for?" he asked, rubbing at his ear.

"Just making sure you were awake. Come on, let's go get ready."

Grumbling, Rigby got out of his bed only to get hit with a wave of nausea. He was about to collapse back into bed, only for it to disappear a few seconds later.

"You okay, dude?" asked Mordecai.

Rigby was slow to answer, considering he was still processing what happened.

"I'm fine. Let's just go."

Mordecai was well aware of how bad of a liar Rigby was, but he decided not to press it, figuring it would probably go away.

* * *

><p>Unfortunately it didn't, as Rigby continued to feel sick as the day went on. However, he still continued to deny that he was in fact ill, but Mordecai was having none of it.<p>

"Dude, stop lying to me! I can tell that you're sick, so why don't you just admit it? It's unlike you to want to continue working."

Rigby sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to hide it anymore.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was going to be as bad as it is now, so I figured there was no need for me to mention it."

Mordecai facepalmed.

"Look, as much as I want to wonder why you would be dumb enough to think that, this is really not the best time. So, let's just find Benson and you can tell him what's going on."

Rigby nodded, and the two of them walked off to find their manager.

* * *

><p>They managed to find Benson not too long after they left, as the gumball machine was busy doing paperwork in his office.<p>

"Why aren't you two out there mowing the lawn like I told you to?"

"Sorry about that, Benson, but we kind of have an issue here. Rigby's not feeling too hot right now."

Benson wasn't completely convinced they weren't faking it, so he looked over at Rigby and saw the state he was in. The raccoon's face was starting to get pale, and he looked like he was barely able to stay on his feet.

"Alright, I understand. Rigby, you go ahead and get some rest. We'll see how you feel before we worry about getting you back to work. Mordecai, you go find Thomas. If he hasn't already finished his work, help him finish, then have him help you with the lawn. You got that?"

"Sure, Benson."

Mordecai and Rigby walked out of the room and were about to head to their respective destinations when Mordecai suddenly stopped.

"Hey Rigby?"

The sick raccoon turned around, clutching a hand railing so as not to fall over.

"Yeah?"

"Hope you feel better."

Rigby gave a slight smile before slowly making his way upstairs and into their room, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Unfortunately, when the next day came, Rigby wasn't better like they thought would have happened after sleeping through the night. When Mordecai pulled the clothes off of Rigby, he found that the raccoon was even paler and shivering violently.<p>

Panicking, he quickly picked Rigby up and placed him in his bed, placing as many sheets as he could find over him and closing the window, knowing that he most likely caught some form of pneumonia or something similar.

"Why didn't you listen to me and stay inside?" he said to himself as he looked over his sick friend in worry.

After taking a few seconds to make sure Rigby would be okay for the moment, Mordecai went downstairs and quickly found Benson in the kitchen.

"Benson, come quick. You really need to see this."

Without waiting for an answer, Mordecai grabbed Benson's arm and pulled him with him as they went up the stairs. Once they reached the door to Mordecai and Rigby's room, Benson finally managed to pull his arm out of Mordecai's grasp.

"Mordecai, what the heck is going on? I was kind of in the middle of getting ready for work."

"Rigby's getting worse, Benson."

Benson immediately went quiet, walking into the room and looking at the sick raccoon piled under ten sheets. After feeling Rigby's head, Benson turned towards Mordecai.

"Call the doctor. Now."

Mordecai quickly rushed out of the room and ran down to the kitchen, calling the doctor and letting him know what happened. When he hung up and returned to the room, he relayed the information to Benson.

"The doctor should be here in about fifteen minutes. He would be here faster, but traffic's kind of bad out there."

Benson sighed, knowing that it was going to be the best they've got.

* * *

><p>The doctor arrived just as he promised and quickly made his way upstairs; sitting down next to Rigby and performing the normal round of tests he would do for these types of patients.<p>

Once he finally completed the last test and packed up his bag, Benson decided to speak up.

"Is he going to be okay, Doctor Taylor?"

The doctor sighed before giving his answer.

"Unfortunately, there's not a lot I can do with what Rigby is facing. Even I'll be the first to admit that this type of illness is a complete mystery to me. I can only suggest that he should be spending some time in the hospital. The doctors there should have a better idea."

Mordecai looked at Rigby's sleeping form, worried sick about what would happen to him.

"Okay, doctor. We'll do that." said Benson.

"Alright then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I should be going."

The doctor grabbed his bag and headed out the door, Benson and Mordecai hearing the front door close a few minutes later.

* * *

><p>After letting the rest of the employees know about Rigby's predicament, Benson called an ambulance, and Rigby was taken away to the hospital once the EMTs reassured them that they would be informed once they had information.<p>

So, as the rest of the group sat in the living room, not knowing what to say or do, Skips was lost in thought.

Throughout his long life, one of the professions that Skips has dabbled in was actually medicine. Even though he quit medical school due to the methods being used in the time period, he still had somewhat of a knowledge of basic symptoms of different illnesses.

So, when Benson told them about Rigby being sick, Skips asked for permission to see the raccoon.

Benson didn't really want anyone to bother Rigby while he was still sleeping, but he reluctantly agreed on the condition that he not wake him up.

After completing his checkup, Skips returned to the living room and sat back down.

"Did you find anything new, Skips?" asked Mordecai.

Skips shook his head, but it turns out that he did find something new. From his limited knowledge, he believed that Rigby was suffering from some form of pneumonia. The only patients that he remembered seeing during his time in medical school that suffered from that illness all died, so he didn't like Rigby's chances, as much as it pained him to admit it.

Also, since he didn't want to upset Mordecai, he decided it was best not to reveal his thoughts, so that was the reason why he kept to himself.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Benson received a call from the hospital that the diagnosis was completed. Benson tried asking over the phone what it was, but the doctor did not say, only asking that him and any close relatives come to the hospital.<p>

When they arrived at the hospital later, the entire group met up with the doctor that Benson talked to on the phone, who launched into his diagnosis.

"Well, after performing some tests, we believe that Rigby is most likely suffering from a combination of hypothermia and pneumonia. However, this is a pretty rare case. The only reason that I can think of where this can happen is if a patient is sick and is exposed to cold weather for long periods of time. Was there any time when that could have happened?"

"Well, he was outside working two days ago when he was sick. I tried telling him to go back inside, but he wouldn't go." said Mordecai.

"I see. Well, we're going to do the best we can to help him out, but unfortunately I cannot guarantee that he will get better. There is a chance that he may not survive, either."

Mordecai's eyes widened and he immediately rushed over to the doctor and grabbed his coat. Skips attempted to pull him off, but the doctor waved him off.

"Please doctor, you've got to save him. I don't know what I'll do without him."

Mordecai was on the verge of tears at this point, releasing the doctor as he turned towards Skips and wrapped his arms around the yeti, finally letting himself go and crying his eyes out.

As Skips comforted the distraught blue jay, he looked up at the doctor.

"We'll get out of your hair so you can start working. Thank you so much for the help, doctor."

The doctor nodded as the group filed their way out of the room, Skips leading Mordecai out.

* * *

><p>As the days passed, everyone in the park tried to make things look like normal, but in the back of everyone's minds, they were all worried sick about Rigby.<p>

They all spent time visiting the raccoon, sometimes all together and sometimes not. It was completely random as to whether Rigby would awake and lively or asleep and not, so no one knew what to expect when trying to figure out if the treatment was actually working or not.

Benson finally received a call from the hospital the next day after their last visit.

"Hello?"

"Am I speaking to Benson?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"This is the Twin Peaks Hospital. I was calling to tell you that we have news about Rigby."

Benson quietly listened as the doctor broke the news, and his jaw dropped.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, sorry for leaving you guys on a cliffhanger there. I couldn't really decide which way to go, so I figured I'd leave it open for interpretation. And before you guys get mad, let me explain. I didn't want to kill Rigby off, considering I already did it during the fifth story, and I didn't want to retread that. And I didn't feel comfortable having Rigby survive considering it would kind of undermine the entire tone of the story.<strong>

**So, if you want to give me your own interpretations of Rigby's fate, feel free. I'll be happy to see them.**


	21. Story 20

Genre: Friendship

Requested By: DisneyStar4Ever

Summary: Benson is found by Mordecai, silently crying on the park steps. Mordecai asks him what's wrong, Benson replying that Audrey went back with Chuck. Mordecai sits down and tries to talk to him, convince him he doesn't need Audrey to be happy.

NOTE: This one's probably going to end up being way shorter than the rest, mostly because I don't think I'm going to be able to stretch this out into 1,700+ words, like I usually do. Still, I'll do my best.

NOTE 2: Oh, and in case anyone's curious, this is set a few days after the events of Weekend at Benson's.

* * *

><p>It was another normal day at the park. All of the employees were there just as they were normally supposed to. It took a few minutes of waiting, but Benson did eventually arrive.<p>

"Alright, everyone. We've got a lot of work to do today, so here's what I need you guys to do."

He then listed off all of the jobs and everyone went their separate ways. However, when Mordecai and Rigby passed by Benson, the blue jay noticed the sullen look on his face. He was a little curious to see what was on his mind, but he knew that Benson probably would just yell at them to get to work.

So, although he didn't really want to, he walked off with Rigby to begin their work shift.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Mordecai and Rigby ended up having to pass by the house once again on their way to the next job on their list. But when they reached the steps to the front door, they saw something that they never would have expected to see.<p>

It turns out that Benson was sitting on the steps, blankly staring at the ground with a piece of paper crumbled in his hand. Mordecai could also hear sniffling sounds coming from their boss. He turned towards Rigby.

"Dude, I'll meet you over at the garden a little later."

"Aw what? You're gonna ditch me to talk to Benson? I didn't expect you two to be so chummy."

Rigby's comment earned him a punch in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Don't be a jerk, dude! The way you're talking about him is just going to make things worse. Besides, I don't want him to take it out on us."

"Ugh, fine. You'd better be at the garden soon, because I'm not doing all of the weeds by myself."

Rigby angrily stomped off, leaving Mordecai staring at the still unmoving Benson. He slowly walked over to the steps and sat down next to his boss, slowly placing his hand on the gumball machine's shoulder.

"Benson? Is there something wrong?"

Benson slowly looked up at Mordecai, trying to adopt his normal authoritative voice.

"Shouldn't you be doing your jobs right now?"

"Come on Benson, be nice! I'm trying to help you here."

Benson sighed, defeated.

"Audrey went back to Chuck. I was too nervous to call her after that party, and she must have thought that I didn't want to go on a date with her."

Benson immediately leaned over, pressing his hands into his eyes.

"How could I have been so stupid? If I just called her, I could be spending more time with her. Maybe we could even go further than that! But now that he's back with that jerk, I don't know if I'm ever going to find someone else I liked as much as her!"

Benson finally had enough. As Benson cried, Mordecai comforted him as best as he could. Finally, once the tears subsided, Mordecai released Benson, and the two of them sat there, not really knowing what to say.

Eventually, Mordecai gave what he wanted to say some thought, and he turned towards his boss.

"Look Benson, have I ever told you about this girl I know named Margaret?"

Benson thought for a second.

"No, I don't believe so."

"Okay, well she's this wonderful woman who works at the coffee shop in town. I'm sure you'd probably think the same way if you met her."

Mordecai then began listing some of the best qualities of Margaret before Benson interrupted.

"What are you getting at, Mordecai?"

"Oh! Sorry about that. What I was getting at is that ever since the first day I met her, which was actually not long after Rigby and I started working here, I can never seem to work up the courage to actually ask her out on a date."

"Is she still single?"

"Well, um…so far. She's had her fair share of boyfriends, but they never really lasted that long."

Benson gave Mordecai a flat stare.

"Okay, so admittedly I was a little upset whenever she showed up with a new boyfriend. But I never let that get me down. Have you ever seen me depressed when we were in the same room?"

Benson thought for a moment.

"Actually no, I don't remember you ever being sad."

"See? You don't need to have a girlfriend to be happy. All you need is a positive attitude, and a friend to help you if needed."

"But I don't really have any friends. Every time I leave work, I spend it at my apartment."

Mordecai paused before replying.

"Well, you have us."

"Huh?"

Benson stared at Mordecai, slightly unsure of what to think.

"It's true, Benson! We're all willing to listen to you if you have anything you want to talk to us about. Well…maybe not Rigby or Muscle Man, but I'm sure you get my point."

Benson smiled as what Mordecai was saying finally registered in his brain.

"I've never thought of it that way. Thanks, Mordecai."

"No problem, Benson. As I've said, we're always here to help."

Mordecai gave Benson a pat on the shoulder before getting up and walking off to rejoin Rigby.

Benson sat there for a moment, processing Mordecai's advice. He has definitely tried to remain positive when things have went wrong throughout his life, but it has been tough to do, considering his abrasive personality tends to drive people away from him.

But still, he was quite grateful to know that Mordecai, as well as everyone else in the park was willing to help him with whatever he needed. So, as he got up, he decided to take a walk around the park, reflecting on all of the good moments of his life.


	22. Closing Statement

After careful consideration, I've decided that now's the time for me to move on from the Fanfiction Rotation. I'd like to apologize to everyone who I haven't already done requests for, but my interest in continuing these is pretty darn low, and to be honest, it's not worth forcing myself to do them. I might do a few more requests as solo one-shots in the future, but I'm no longer going to be doing oneshots under the Rotation's banner.

So, before this officially closes, I'd like to thank everyone for your support throughout the life of this story. I'm sorry that some people's requests took fucking forever to do, but that's what happens when you get lazy. Anyway, please take the time to check out all of the other stories on my profile, including my other Regular Show stories, my two Penguins of Madagascar stories, and my brand new story based off of the movie Rio.

Thanks again, and I'll see you guys later.

RK


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